Masked Injury
by PockyNerd
Summary: Sequel to Lucky Jinx. Kathy Aragon naturally looks out for her cousin, Alexander, until the day he ran away. She enlists the help of Crosshairs and Jeremy to help her look for him but when she's kidnapped by a quintesson scientist, Quint, she sees a bigger storm brewing ahead involving people she didn't know existed and others Elsa thought had died. Welcome to war.
1. Alexander's race

Mama's new red car was unlocked when Alexander slid into it. "Don't," I whispered harshly. "Do you want to be in more trouble?"

"Look, Kathy, you can either stay home like a good girl or you can shut up and get in the car."

I knew we would both be in trouble if I got in. "You are such a pain in my ass!" I yelled as I got in the back. Before I was even buckled in Alex took off down the street.

"But you love me," he grinned.

"Oh please," I rolled my eyes.

Alexander had the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen. They weren't blue but they weren't devoid of color. In fact, it reminded me of a cloudy day before the rain and his hair was black like the night sky during a new moon. I wanted so desperately to ask him who his mother was but I knew better than to ask. Of course he didn't know. Mama said that her sister disappeared with her husband but that someone from Russia found out that Alexander was her nephew. It didn't make any sense. Now that we were older we both found many holes in the story.

The summers in California were cool. The forests of skyscrapers surrounded every city except for the suburban areas we lived in but we could clearly see the smog and the glowing buildings that reached the heavens. They glowed against the sunrise and sunset and I could see them perfectly from our little neighborhood.

The car stopped at a bus stop and another boy got in the car. "Really? Did you have to bring Princess Whine?" This boy was tanned and was blond with the tips of his spikey hair in an ombrè orange and red. It was made to look like fire.

"Excuse me?" I raised an eyebrow.

"She insisted on coming along." Alexander once again sped away. It jerked me and made me slam my head against the back of the sea. "Just deal with it, Jeremy."

I kicked the back of Jeremy's seat like a child. "Princess Whine my ass." I mumbled afterward.

"Hey now, no kicking the seat!" Alexander snapped.

"Whatever," I looked out the window. Thankfully, we came to a very slow halt. We were somewhere between city and rural landscaping. I could see the curving and twining bridges of the freeway. The streets were mostly deserted except for two cars that came on either side of us. They were both sports cars with racing stripes. One was white and orange and the other was red and black. One of them revved the engine and Alexander answered by revving his.

"Don't you dare," I warned but it was too late. The glint in his stormy eyes told me he'd already made up his mind.

"Better hold on tight, Princess." I could hear Jeremy's grin.

"Don't make me kick you, Jeremy! This is your fault!" The light turned green and the three cars took off at high speeds. "You are a bad influence on such a soft headed person! He's gonna…like, murder someone because of you!"

"Whatever," Jeremy was totally relaxed.

We turned a sharp corner and I held onto the door. I was going to jump out before I died today! The red car came up on the side of us. With the way the sun was shining I should've been able to make out a silhouette of a person but I couldn't. It wasn't because the windows were too tinted either.

"Something's wrong…" I didn't mean to say it aloud.

"Like what?" Jeremy snorted and grinned. It quickly disappeared with the magical sight of flashing red and blue lights and the sound that makes every driver say what Alexander said in that moment.

"Ah shit!" He pulled over carefully. We were nearly on the freeway.

As soon as he was at a stop I got out. "Ma'am, please get back in the car," the officer was female, and being cautious.

"Can I just walk that way," I pointed in the direction home was.

"Not until I'm done."

I rolled my eyes and got back in the car.

"Busted," Jeremy whispered.

We didn't know, nor did we care about whom he was talking to. "Shut up," we told him in unison.

"Do you know how fast you were going?" The female officer nearly shouted. "I should have your license revoked and I should arrest you!"

"Sorry, it's just that my cousin is really, really late for harp lessons and it's all the way downtown."

I folded my arms and sank in my seat.

The officer sighed and took the license and registration. After a long few minutes she came back. "Your license is suspended until you take a drivers safety course. The only place you may go is home."

"Oh well," I said as she walked away. I waited until she drove away to get out.

"Where are you going?" Alexander called.

"Anywhere but here!" I shouted as I walked across the street. I didn't stop. Alexander didn't try to get me back in the car. He also didn't make a U turn. He safely got onto the freeway. "Some big brother you are!" I shouted at nothing. Sunset was coming and I wasn't in the city, I wasn't even in a suburban area. It was rural and completely barren. I haven't been so far out of the city before. I wanted to walk away from the side of the road. It was sunset and as long as I came back to the edge I should be fine.

No, something told me. Don't go out there. My foot pushed back into the city lines and heading in the direction of home. What was out there? Who was my auntie?

I patted myself for my phone at a gas station. I must have left it at home. The payphone I tried was dead too. I sighed and kicked the phone. "Just my luck," I muttered and rubbed my eyes and walked inside.

"…Someone defacing monuments?" I heard someone say as I was in line to ask the cashier to borrow their phone.

"Yeah. But it's like this…"

I turned and saw an older man talking to what I could only assume was an FBI agent. The older man would have been grandfather's age on my mothers side if he was still alive.

Mama told me that they died when she was a little girl and her sister was about to turn sixteen. The fire was determined an electrical problem later but she claimed it was no accident. Her sister grabbed her from her room and grandma told them to stay outside while she went back in for grandfather. The house collapsed just as they stepped outside.

"Um…miss?" The cashier was getting impatient. He was a middle-aged man and he looked like he just age a few greasy burgers.

I approached the counter with caution. "Oh, sorry, can I borrow your phone? The line outside is cut and-"

"No, sorry. The phone line close by was cut completely. Don't have no cell phone either. Sorry."

"Oh…okay, fine, I can walk home."

"Out in this darkness?" The old man must've heard me. I turned to him slowly. "No sir, I'm not going to let a pretty young lady walk home by herself."

"I really don't need a ride," all red flags went up immediately.

"Well then, my grandson here can give you a ride. He's apart of the military so he's pretty trustworthy."

I looked at the younger man who seemed uncomfortable with the sudden spotlight. He ran his hand through his sandy blond hair. "Where do you live?"

I gave him the address.

"Come on," he said and I followed him out to a pretty clean purple semi-truck.

"What's a military member doing with a semi?" I asked as I got in.

"He's more reliable than the other one."

"He? Oh god, you're like Alexander, aren't you? Naming your cars and giving them genders." I shook my head and buckled in.

The truck started. "So what's your name?"

"Kathy. Kathy Aragon. You?"

"Whitwicky," he answered simply. "That's all you need to know."

"Okay. Why are you dressed like an FBI agent?"

"My father forgets that I'm no longer military. I really am FBI. He has a hard time remembering anything new."

"Oh…Oh I'm sorry." I looked out the window for a moment watching the last rays of sunlight disappear. "Oh, wait FBI! Then you can tell me who my aunt is!"

Whitwicky gave me a questioning look.

"Well," I went on, "my mama's sister disappeared years before I was born and she keeps telling me that some Russian guy found my cousin, Alexander, and found out his relatives but there are tons of flaws. Like, I wasn't born and there are lots of stories of children found in Russia when their relatives are in the US but they're put into orphanages or adopted unless somehow the child is put into an international Missing and Exploited Children database, which I looked up and he never was. I wanna find my auntie because it'll help Alexander. He's been so depressed and getting into so much idiotic trouble. He's a good boy and extremely smart but…"

Whitwicky stopped me. "What's her name, Kathy?"

"I think its Elsa Fischer. That was the last name the US recorded before she went off the grid."

"How do you know that?"

"Oh…I may have hacked a few databases." I said carefully. He opened his mouth but I yelled, "I plead the fifth!"

The man laughed. "Fine, fine. Elsa Fischer. Why does that name sound so familiar?" He pulled over near the house. Mama looked angry for some reason.

"Optimus Prime!" She yelled out. I got out of the truck. "We had a deal!"

I turned to see Whitwicky getting out. "Alisha, don't get too angry."

The sound was a type of beeping before metal fixing against metal. I wanted to scream but the sound was lost in my chest. Prime got down on his hands and knees carefully to better speak with her. I couldn't move.

"We had a deal, Optimus Prime! You would leave us alone if-"

"I kept my word, Alisha Fischer."

"It isn't Fischer," the voice was taken from my own throat. "It's Aragon now."

Prime nodded and turned his attention toward mama. "I did not approach your daughter, rather, she approached me."

She had a shocked look. "Is this true?"

"I can explain. Alexander and a buddy of his went off and-"

"Alexander took my car?!" She screamed at me now.

"Yes and I got out but I-"

"Why didn't you call me?"

"I didn't have my cell phone."

"Go, to your room now!"

"Why? What did I do?"

"You snuck out without my permission!"

I huffed. "No, I didn't do anything and I'm going to go find Alexander!"

"Kathy!" mama scolded.

"I'm sixteen, mama. I'll be fine. Alexander, on the other hand, has the mentality of an eight year old. I'm going to go find him even if I have to sneak out."

"With what car?" Mama folded her arms.

She got me there. With both cars gone from the driveway I was stranded. I looked at Optimus but he gave me no indication that he would get between us. With a huff I stomped inside, up the stairs, and in my room and I locked the door.

Who was my aunt? Who was my mother?

I could still hear them outside. "I would never break my promise, Alisha."

There was a long pause. "I know, Optimus. But I still expected you to do everything you could to stay away from us."

"This was my idea," it was Mr. Whitwicky. "If you hadn't said anything, Miss Alisha, then we wouldn't be in this mess."

"You two stay away from us!"

I looked out the window and I watched our neighbor's house. Who was my aunt? Who was my mother? I got on the computer and worked my magic.


	2. Crosshairs

I couldn't find much. Any information, including social security, was wiped long ago. It was like Elsa suddenly stopped existing when she turned 16. I did find information about the fire, though, and I found small articles about the fights in Russia and away from cities. I found things about the Chicago incident and even more about things I was never told of.

Alexander came home while I sat at the computer trying to sift through legit articles and the fake ones. I exited out of everything, wiped the history and allowed a program to run through to replace the wiped out history with social media networks at a random scheduling pattern. I opened the door and poked my head out to hear their argument.

"I needed to drop Jeremy off somewhere!" Alexander kept his voice level. "It just took longer and I wasn't stopped after that." He was moving closer to the stairs.

"But you let her walk in the dark alone!" Mama's feet could be heard stomping after him. "And it's midnight!"

"So? She's fine." Alexander slowly made his way up the stairs. It creaked under his feet.

"Alexander!" He stopped. "What if something happened to her?" Her voice was quiet and pleading.

"Well…that would've been her own fault, huh?" There was a hint of something, was it jealousy? I've never heard Alexander so cold. "She's a big girl. She can take care of her-" He was interrupted by a sharp noise.

A sharp slap echoed and quieted the house. Not even crickets wanted to come out and sing tonight. There wasn't another sound for a very long time. Everyone and everything just stopped to tense.

Finally, Alexander moved up the stairs.

"Alexander, I'm sorry," Mama moved to catch up with him or to stop him but she couldn't once he reached the top of the stairs. He moved quickly and slammed the door in her face. Mama knocked but he didn't answer. "Alexander," she whispered to the door, her voice cracking, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to."

I shut the door as quietly as I could but there was no way to muffle the _click._ Mama sobbed in the hallway. When I pressed my ear against the wall I could hear Alexander move around and gather things.

So he was finally doing it. He was finally running away.

If I didn't move to go with him, he'd get himself killed. I grabbed my laptop and shoved it into my backpack and I grabbed the house keys. I opened the window and hopped outside and I half expected to see Alexander out with me. When my feet hit the ground it was painful. It took several minutes for the pain to stop.

He didn't jump out for several minutes after the pain stopped and when he did he just glared at me. "What do you want?" He whispered harshly.

"I'm coming with you, Alexander." I told him in a whisper. "You'll kill yourself without someone coming along."

Alexander shoved me against the wall as hard as he could. The only cushion I had was my backpack. His arm was against my neck, pressing on it didn't choke me but it wasn't a comfortable feeling either. He was too strong too push away too. He leaned in close to my ear, and whispered, "You'll go back upstairs. You'll just forget me. You won't come after me and you'll never look for me. You'll lead a life of privileged happiness."

"No," I snapped, "I'm coming with you."

Something hard was pressed against my stomach. It took only a few moments to realize it was a gun. "If you ever follow me, if I ever catch you trying to find me, I will…" He never finished. I don't think he wanted to.

At first I was frozen with fear. Fear that he would do it. Finally, I felt him shake. He was shaking and when I tried to focus hard enough I could barely make out tears forming in his eyes. He didn't want to leave so why was he leaving?

"Do it," I challenged then, "because if you don't then I'll find you."

Alexander's strength was something I couldn't have imagined being. He never struck me before this. He kneed my stomach hard and forced me to my knees. "I'm sorry," he whispered before he hit the gun as hard as he could against my temple.

I woke up with the sun's warm fingers stroking my face and a ringing in my ears. The sun was high in the air and outlining the head of a boy whose face was usually enough to anger me. "She's okay, Mrs. Aragon!" Jeremy said into his cell. I could barely hear my mother. All I heard was that she was talking. "If you still can't find him in an hour go to a police station, okay? If I find him I'll tell you." After a moment more he hung up. "You have some bump. Come on." He helped me up. He was actually being gentlemanly. "Where is he?" He was speaking in a low voice.

Suddenly I became aware that something was stiff against my forehead as if something wet had dried against my skin. I ran my hands along my temple and I picked at what was stuck to the corner of my eyes. When I pulled it away I saw that it used to be blood. "He hit me...he actually hit me," I whispered to myself. I couldn't believe what had just happened. Where was he? Where was Alexander?

I couldn't look into Jeremy's suddenly gentle eyes. This wasn't a side of him I was used to seeing. "I don't know. He never told me." I half lied.

Jeremy nodded. "Yeah, I figured he wouldn't." He started to walk away.

"Then why ask?" I yelled and followed him. He walked to a green corvette.

Jeremy opened the door for me to get in the passenger side. He never answered until he got in on the driver's side. "I wanted to try and give you a chance. Benefit of the doubt or whatever."

"Don't ask if you know the answer," I snapped at him. "Hey, where are we even going?"

An evil grin appeared and before I could think about jumping out the car suddenly jerked forward and took off.

"I'm pretty sure this counts as kidnapping," I snapped again.

"It isn't kidnapping if the victim is willing to get in the car. Besides, we're going to find Jeremy. You know where he was headed to so you're going to tell me or we aren't going back home."

I shook my head. "We aren't going home anyways." There was a look of surprise. "I need to find him. He's my cousin and he's a dumbass. He'll get himself killed."

Jeremy laughed. "Hang on I thought I was Dumbass."

"You are a dumbass. You're also a jackass. Now slow down or you'll get us both killed!"

Another evil grin appeared. He slid the seat as far back as it would go and lifted his hands. "I'm not the one driving," he grinned and waited for my reaction. Panic settled in.

"If you aren't then who is?" I screamed at him.

"Well the car is of course." He pat the dashboard. "Meet Crosshairs. He's an autobot that knew Alexander's mom."

Suddenly the panic was gone and replaced with something else. Something like excitement. It knew Elsa. Did it know where she was?

"Crosshairs, this is Kathy. I told you about her right? She's Alex's cousin. The one he's a little...overprotective of."

"Nice to meet you, sweetheart." Its voice was low, somewhere between young and middle-aged, and it was mechanical and it made me jump. My reaction just made him laugh.

"Mama's gonna kill you…both of you. She yelled at Optimus Prime yesterday."

"Oi, you've met Optimus already? Well that leaves two more yet to be introduced to the party."

I kicked the dashboard. "My god can nobody be serious anymore? Prime can't know what we're up to either. He'll probably just bring me back home. He seems responsible like that. Please, don't tell anybody, Crosshairs."

Everything was silent for a moment as we came up to a stop.

"Does that sound like something everyone can do?" I looked from the dashboard to Jeremy. I felt a little crazy talking to a car but less crazy talking to Jeremy.

"You bet," Crosshairs continued to drive the speed limit now.

"Great. Jeremy…we'll have to turn off our phones." Jeremy gave me a dumbfounded look. "If the police get involved they can track our phones if they have service. Turn your phone off." I dug into my pocket and shut everything down. Jeremy did the same. "Alexander knows he came from Russia so that's probably where he'll eventually go. He's going to want to find Elsa."

"With what money?" Jeremy frowned. It pulled at his cheeks and his eyes.

"I don't know. But he'll do it. He'll do anything to find his mom." I said it slowly. "Crosshairs, using deductive reasoning I can assume you knew Elsa. Does that mean you know where she was when she disappeared?"

At first Crosshairs wouldn't answer. By now we were in pure, rural areas. His transformation sounded like metal scraping against metal and within seconds I was what felt like hundreds of feet above the ground in a giant hand with Jeremy.

Crosshairs was young, he had wisdom beyond me, though. The green from the car was due to the green trench coat type armor he wore. "Yes, I know exactly where she is. She'd kill me if I brought her to you."

I could do nothing but stare at him. Heat beat down but I didn't notice it. The sun was merciful today.

Crosshairs continued, "Years ago, years before you were born, Kathy, or even Alexander for that matter, Megatron was recreated into Galvatron. Galvatron brought back an evil being called Unicron and our creator, Primus, came down here to settle things once and for all. Galvatron was ultimately destroyed in the end but in the meantime Elsa was a holder of a Quill and Covenant of Primus. It's one of thirteen artifacts used when the original beings were created to defeat Unicron. In the end Elsa thought their powers were too great for anybody to handle so when Alexander was born she asked that he was taken away and she locked herself in Russia, in a place called The Hall Of Records in hopes that the world would forget everything. We've done a good job erasing most of the evidence except for a few articles and pictures here and there."

Everything had stopped to hear his story. Even the clouds never rolled from their place.

"Are you sure you want to meet her, Kathy? You might not like the person you meet."

I met his eyes. They were challenging and they actually pleaded that she was brave enough to say yes. They were hungry for adventure and a little bit of killing and he wanted to be a juvenile for just a day or two. "Let's go see Elsa."

Without asking any more questions he took to the air.


	3. Questions and demands

The weather in Russia was colder than I expected. Even Jeremy had a hard time warming up. It was drastically different. It was summer still, but summer still was cold yet everyone had the audacity of wearing shorts while Jeremy and I shivered in Crosshairs hands.

Finally, he landed on the side of a mountain near what would have been a narrow passage if there hadn't been a huge door. There was nothing special about it except that it was in the middle of nowhere and it was decorated very nicely.

Slowly Crosshairs set us down on the ground. "She's gonna kill me. Then Optimus will kill me." He kept muttering as he tried to open the door. It didn't budge. So he tried again. It still didn't move.

"Try knocking," I told him in an attempt to be semi-helpful.

He gave me a dirty look as if to say "like I hadn't thought of that" and knocked slowly. _This woman must be really scary,_ I thought.

The door opened slowly. A man a little older than mama stood with the huge door open. He had hair like Alexander but he had a streak of grey and white but his eyes were green. He looked from Jeremy to me and then up at Crosshairs. His frown made the wrinkles more prominent. He was thin and he didn't look very strong.

"Do you know what my wife is going to do when she comes back, Crosshairs?"

This wasn't what I would call a friendly greeting. He continued to dart his eyes between me and Crosshairs, like he was trying to place me somewhere in his memory.

Crosshairs shrugged and laughed. "What's she gonna do? Kill me?"

"She'll try," he folded his arms.

Crosshairs just laughed more.

"This isn't your aunt," Jeremy commented.

I rolled my eyes at him. Of course this wasn't my aunt! For starters this was a guy! I stepped forward. "Is your wife Elsa Fischer?"

The man nodded. "Yes but she doesn't go by Fischer anymore. Why? Who are you and why are you looking for my wife?"

I took a breath. This man was a stranger. He was my uncle but I felt no love for him. I only felt a stranger in my presence. "My name is Kathy Aragon. I'm her niece." I paused for a moment to try and gauge a reaction. He gave me none. "I'm the daughter of Alisha Fischer. She adopted her son, Alexander. He goes by Alexander Aragon now." There was a flash in his eyes. It was a look of worry and hope and happiness. Was this his son too?

"Alexander? How…how is he?" He spoke as if I knocked the breath out of his lungs. His eyes were wide. He was scared about what news I had.

"He's missing. We think he might try to travel here, to Russia." I explained to him. "Who are you? I never caught your name."

The man shook his head and rubbed his eyes. "Come in, come in," he opened the door more and walked inside. I followed as closely behind as I could. The hall of records looked more like a giant library than anything else! Towers of bookshelves all lined with books created a maze all the way to a fireplace. There was no smell of dust. Everything was clean. Had they been living here all this time?

He stopped and started to feed the fire. As he worked he spoke but his voice was low, as if he spoke to the fire. "I'm Ky, I'm Elsa's husband and I'm Alexander's father." He turned back to me when he was finished. "What happened?"

"What do you think happened, Ky?" Jeremy spoke up before I could. "Your son wanted to know exactly who you were since you attempted to wipe yourselves from existence. He's trying everything he can to find you."

Ky scoffed. "I knew it! I told her not to give him up but that stubborn old woman won't listen to me!" He kicked the wall.

Jeremy stepped in front of me. He created a barrier between Ky and me.

"Who's a stubborn old woman?" This voice came from behind Crosshairs. Everyone turned to see an older woman. She looked like mama but her hair was darker. She had brunette hair and her eyes were very unique. They were Alexander's eyes.

"Uh-Oh, we're in trouble now," Crosshairs said quietly while the woman made her way to Ky.

"Ky, you bastard, I told you if they ever came back not to let them in!" She wanted to shove him.

Ky grabbed her arms tightly and held her out at arms length. "Elsa, our son. She says Alexander is missing."

Elsa stopped dead in her tracks for a minute. "Alexander…" She whispered but then she shook her head. "Who are they?" She snapped.

"That's your sister's daughter and her friend." He forced her around a bit roughly. "Kathy, this is Elsa."

I waved. I felt no love for this woman either. She was a stranger.

"What happened to Alexander?" She tried to break from Ky's grip. Elsa scratched him and thrashed around violently while she screamed, "Where is he? What happened?"

Jeremy became tense.

Who was this woman? Who did she think she was? Now she was suddenly worried. I screamed at her, "You were the one who abandoned him! Why the hell do you suddenly care now?" I took several steps forward and got in her face. I've never been so angry.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" She was trying hard to get away. Ky wrapped his arms around her and held her arms at her side.

"I'm his cousin. I'm the one who has been taking care of him." My throat started to hurt but I kept screaming. "He thinks you two still care and now he's coming here o find you!"

Elsa's right hand was no longer there it was replaced by a knife. She squirmed fully from Ky's grip and she placed the knife on my neck. "I love my son more than you could ever know, Kathy." She growled.

"Just like you loved your sister? You abandoned everyone! What did you do that for?"

She grabbed a book from the shelf, walked back and shoved it to my chest. "These are record books, my dear." She waited for me to skim through it. "They are a recording of history before history even begins. I can see all of it. Every single one that was written I wrote out before Alexander's birth. I gave him a pen and sent him off to live with my sister so that he would never use this power. So that nobody could use this power."

I closed the book and tossed it on the couch. "So you're a coward then." Sharp pain and red blood filled my senses. While Ky tried to pull her away Jeremy had me picked up by the waist.

Finally Crosshairs picked up Elsa. "Hey now, that was a little uncalled for."

Elsa started to scream at him.

Who was this woman?

I pushed Jeremy and ran outside. Outside was cold. It was dark too. The only city was the glow of Moscow. That's where I needed to go. Blindly I ran into the darkness. Where was I really going? I don't know. I just kept running. I'd keep running.

Finally I had to stop to catch my breath. I didn't feel like I made any progress toward my destination. I sat on a rock big enough to be a chair and I covered my eyes with my hand. It was hard to breathe through the tears.

Cold, metallic hands wrapped around my wrist and lifted me as high as it could. This didn't look like any of the transformers I'd met before. Next to him was another being, it was metallic and kind of levitated a few feet from the ground. I started to kick the one that held me. "Lemme go!" I screamed but even to my own ears I wasn't very loud.

"Hold still. It may hurt," the voice was evil. I took a good look at the other one. It had faces, five if I had to guess. The head suddenly spun and the voice was drastically different. "Are you a family of the Fischer Family?" It was kind.

"No, my last name is Aragon!" I yelled at it. "What in gods name are you supposed to be?"

The face changed again. It looked angry. "Hold still," it yelled and something like wire was wrapped around my head. It sent pulses of electricity down my spine and throughout my nervous system. I opened my mouth to scream but none came out. In my vision the scene was replaced and I saw my memory.

"I see…" the evil voice was back. I couldn't see it, though. "You are a Fischer but you don't really know anything do you? Nothing except for what Elsa Fischer screamed at you." I saw her at the library, screaming and then it changed to Alexander. My life with him flashed but it slowed down at one part. It was when Alexander saved me when I was kidnapped. I was still in the back of the man's van and I was tied to the floor. When he cut me loose I hugged him and I didn't let go for hours. "Your cousin, you treat him like a brother. I know where he's at, little girl, and I can tell you if you give me information in return." Halfway through the evil voice was replaced with a wiser one. "Where it Optimus Prime?" I saw the memory of when I met him. "I see…you don't know."

"Why do you want to know where he is?" My own voice filled my head but not my ears. Still, I was sure I yelled it.

"Do you really want to know?" Suddenly memories that weren't my own filled my vision. Visions of fighting. Visions of my mother when she was a teenager. "They broke the law. They need to pay for their rebellion." Two signs appeared. One was a sign that Crosshairs wore. "Autobot and Decepticons. They were never supposed to come on this tiny planet."

"You said you knew where Alexander was! Where is he?"

Another memory filled my vision. He was beaten up pretty badly and there was a robot like Crosshairs. There were two and they were taking care of him. "He's not on this island."

I recognized the red bridge in the background. "San Francisco," I whispered.

Suddenly everything turned into night. I was dropped but my legs were so numb that I fell on my side. I couldn't move. "I told you it would be too much for humans," one of the faces said.

"What are you?" I asked with a shaky voice.

They ignored my words and walked away. One of the voices replied to the other, "One casualty will be for the greater good." It's laughter rang through the air.

I didn't realize I blacked out. The next thing I knew I was blinded by a light. I lifted my hands and shielded my eyes. There was rope around my wrists and it tied me to a bed.

I took in my surroundings but I couldn't figure out where I would be. My sense of smell and taste and touch were numb. All I could rely on is my sight and my hearing. A door opened and I turned my head toward the sound.

What came in wasn't human in the least. It had tentacles like a squid but it had a mechanical body and head. When its eyes laid on her it moved its face to look pleased. This didn't look like the thing she ran into.

"You're awake!" It sounded pleased and it rushed over. "Do you speak? Do you even understand me?"

I groaned and put my hands to my forehead. "Yes, I speak and I understand."

"Well, how do you feel?" It pulled over a chair.

"Like crap."

"How does that feel?"

"Like crap." I looked at the thing.

"I don't understand. How does that feel?"

I groaned. "That's the problem. I can't feel anything."

It tilted its head to one side. "I don't understand. How can you feel like crap but not feel anything?"

I wanted to laugh. What was this thing? "Can we start over with the questions?"

"Okay. How do you feel?"

Now I did laugh. "No, like introductions, it's common courtesy. At least show me that."

"But I don't care who you are. You're just an experiment."

I sighed and rubbed my eyes. He asked the same question again. "I can't feel anything. I can see and I can hear and I can obviously move but I can't smell or feel anything."

It nodded several times as if taking mental notes.

Slowly I sat up and awkwardly twisted to throw my legs over the side of a makeshift cot. My left arm twisted around my back because there wasn't enough length in the rope. The world started to spin.

"What happened?" I asked it.

It sighed. "I guess I could tell you. I was wandering around outside when I saw what was happening. He got you while your guard was down. I'm not sure exactly what happened but I knew it wasn't good for you. When I was sure they were gone I picked you up and brought you back here to my home."

"So you live in Russia?"

It nodded. "That's what you humans call it then yes. When I first landed, though, it was the Soviet Union."

"That was…a very long time ago."

"Indeed it was." It leaned back in its chair.

"What attacked me?" I could suddenly feel my head pounding.

"Not what, my dear. Whom. Whom attacked you? That was a Judge and it didn't attack." It leaned forward. "It was a Quintesson, like me, but a different type known as a Judge."

"What type are you?"

It held up a hand. "No more questions from the subject," it snapped. "It's my turn. What do they call you here?"

"Kathy," I told him.

He rubbed his beard with one of the tentacles. "And, Kathy, how do you feel now?"

"My head hurts like I got burned." Would he help me?

"And your arm? You've been in an uncomfortable position for a few minutes."

I shook my head.

"I see. Well, that is both promising and very bad news. I will see to it to bring you back to peak health before we begin any more projects." He stood.

"Wait, what am I supposed to call you?"

He masked pleasure on his robotic mask. "Just call me Quint. It'll be easier to let you go if you don't know my name." Quint put the chair back and walked out of the room.

I knew then if I didn't get out whenever I had the chance I'd never get out alive. I got to work at nibbling the rope.


	4. Hopelessness

When I finally felt my panic attack it was sudden. Only two hours before was when I finally felt the left side of my body starting in my fingertips. I felt the burn of the half chewed rope and now I couldn't breathe. I grabbed my chest and gasped for air but no matter how much I puffed out my chest I couldn't get enough air.

The door opened. I hid the half chewed rope behind my back. Quint walked over with a tray full of food but none of looked very edible for humans. The tray was probably meant for him. "What do you feel now?" He set the tray down on a table at the head of the bed.

"How did you know I was feeling anything?" I felt like a fish out of water. I was just gasping for air.

"You're grabbing your chest. You feel something, no?" He pulled out a chair and sat on it. "Is it what you humans call a heart attack?"

I shook my head. My chest really hurt now. It wasn't a heart attack I knew that. This was a panic attack for sure. I hardly had panic attacks but when I did it was because I was truly in danger.

The last time I had a panic attack was because I stupidly followed a dog to its owner at the park. I wanted to make sure it got back, that's all, and I thought that with it being daylight I'd be okay wandering away. I was six. I was small and I didn't have time to scream for Alexander. The man shoved me into the car. That was the only time I was ever truly scared. I don't even know how Alexander found me. Maybe he followed the car all the way to its home. Maybe it was an angel or luck. Every other time after that I had Alexander to guide me through the day.

The fleshy tentacles didn't help much either. It stuck wires to each side of my chest under my clothes and checked monitors that it was attached to. "I see…elevated heart rate and blood pressure…is this the "fight or flight" I always hear humans talk about?"

I didn't want to answer any more of his questions. I shut my eyes tightly and tried to breath deeply. It helped only a little.

"No more answering my questions? How rude!" Quint commented.

I couldn't move. He took off the wires and I heard him pick up the tray. When I opened my eyes he was moving it. "You're getting me food, right?" I tried my hand at a joke that didn't really go well. Quint ignored it and left me alone. For a moment I stared at the ceiling in hopelessness. I closed my eyes and prayed that Alexander would come like when I was a child.

Alexander won't come, though. He could be anywhere in America but he wouldn't know how I died or why if I just sat here! Through my panic I chewed through my rope until I finally broke free.

Now, I pulled as hard as I could on my right hand. I could feel the rope cut into my skin.

I still couldn't catch my breath but I kept pulling harder and harder until I was putting my entire bodyweight into pulling away.

I continued to pull until I felt the rope cut so deep that I bled. The blood made it slippery. It caused my hand to slip out and I fell with a thumping sound onto the floor. The chair was knocked over because of me. I stopped to listen through the beating pulse of my heart. There was nothing else moving. I took off my shoes so I would move more silently to the door and I peeked out. There was nothing in the hall.

The setup was very similar to a house with no windows. I would have to guess at each door until I found what I needed. Jeremy's phone would still be off unless he's as stupid as I thought he was.

I patted myself for my phone.

It was gone. Where to, I'm not sure, but it was gone and I was screwed!

I swallowed down the rising panic and forced my feet forward. My heart rate slowed dramatically as I moved swiftly through the hall. Doors lined the walls on both sides. I had to stop to look into each one. One of the rooms was where Quint was. I froze, afraid he saw the door open. He didn't until he turned around and saw me moving away from the door.

I crawled into the next immediate room and I closed the door, and held it closed in a darkened room. I heard the movement outside. Something slithered over my leg. My body tensed but I couldn't move out until I knew Quint wasn't in the hall. I could hear him mumbling to himself as he moved down the hall.

"No," he said to himself, "she couldn't be that stupid. Nobody would go in there."

Another thing slithered over my waist and rested. I shut my eyes tightly and listened closely to Quint as he walked away.

My eyes adjusted to the darkness. There were eyes staring at me, some of them even glowed, and they were all in cages. Something in a cage next to me had snake-like hands. I didn't want to know what it was. I shot out of the room and ran as quickly as I could down the hall. The last door in the hall led outside.

It was bright, almost too bright. The sun was high in the air to signal the afternoon. The house wasn't so much a house as it was an alien ship and it was carved into the steep side of a mountain. One wrong step and I'd tumble down onto a cliff and possibly die.

I had to keep moving, now. Quint would realize soon that I was gone. I had to be careful going down the side. I didn't even know where I was going but forward seemed like a good option by this point.

Rocks cut into my feet but I couldn't put on my shoes yet. I could when I felt safer but if I didn't keep moving I'd possibly die. The ground was hard and nearly frozen over. My toes started to turn red and blisters were forming painfully in the arch of my foot and in my toes.

It was only slightly warm. The pines were extremely fragrant here. They grew oddly on the side of the cliff. They hung out and even with their roots exposed they thrived together with tangling roots.

When the ship was no more than a dot behind me I started to yell while I walked. "Crosshairs!" I screamed out. Only my echo answered me. "Jeremy!" It was like that for a while. The cold air bit into my lungs and my throat felt raw. "Crosshairs! Jeremy!" I coughed into my elbow. "Guys! Somebody?" Now the ship wasn't seen through the thick trees.

 _Keep going forward_. When I reached the cliff I had to choose. North? South? I moved south. Would I come across a town? I hoped so.

"Crosshairs!" I continued to yell while I walked but not as loudly anymore. I couldn't. It was hopeless if they couldn't hear me.

The sun was setting rapidly. With each hour that passed it became ten degrees cooler. I stopped for a moment to rest with my back against a tree. Nothing would take me by surprise while I rested this time. This time I also put on my shoes but it was painful. My toes were scarlet and raw and cracked when I slipped them in and they were beginning to turn a sickly blue. I sucked in air through my teeth making a hissing type of painful noise. Hot tears flowed down my cheeks. It hurt. The pain hurt. My feet hurt. My body hurt. My chest hurt. Everything hurt but it was also numb. I fully felt the pain on the right side of my body and it hurt. My joints hurt. I cursed everyone I knew silently.

My shoes rubbed up against the blisters. I was beginning to give up. In the distance the sun disappeared behind the icy terrain. Soon the darkness would take my body too.

Icy wind bit into my skin. My fingers were turning red. The panic attack receded and was replaced by something else. Something I didn't know. Was this what it felt like to simply…give up? It was a pain in my chest but I could breathe fine. My mind stopped entirely except to tell me to keep moving forward, even if forward was a cliff I think my mind would tell me to jump. When I pressed forward my feet dragged. The tears stopped spilling all at once but it felt like they never stopped.

All around me the moon spilled out it's pale white light, blessing me with some form of sight.

What kept my feet moving? Was this primal instinct?

Finally I saw smoke rising and curling. That hopelessness was gone and I ran toward what I assumed to be safety.

The sound of a gunshot stopped me short and made me raise my hands into the air. A man dressed in a military uniform stepped out from the trees. His gun was trained on me and I knew he wouldn't miss twice.

"Gosudarstvo vashe imya i biznesa!" He shouted. I shook my head. "Gosudarstvo vashe imya i biznesa!" He shouted again, more demanding. I gulped the air into my lungs and my mind finally remembered how to speak. "I-I don't speak Russian. Only English! Um…" "Ona govorit tol'ko po-angliyski." This man was behind me. "Stand down," he ordered this time in English and everyone lowered their weapons. In total, now that I stopped to take in the scene, there were five men in total including the one that shouted at me and the one that defended me. The one that ordered everyone to stand down approached me. "What are you doing all the way out here?" He didn't sound like he had a Russian accent. Was he British? I felt a little better knowing there was someone who spoke English. "I was kidnapped. I don't know by who but I was attacked and kidnapped." The man eyed me suspiciously. "Honestly. I'm here with a friend named Jeremy." "Let me see your passport," he held out his hand. Finally, I lowered mine but this made everyone uneasy. "That's the thing…I don't have one. I…" Everything started to become cloudy. "Are you okay, Miss?" This man had a thick Russian accent. I put my hands out. "You'd better catch her, Rob. She's gonna go down." Sure enough, I fell and stared into the darkness. 


	5. A Broken Heart and Adrenaline

"You stupid, idiotic…" There were no other words Elsa could use except one. "You are such a dumbass!" The woman shook me.

When I woke up Elsa was standing over me, ready to do me in. My mother was never called, thank god, but I knew it wouldn't last long. She'd been yelling at me for about twenty minutes now, reminding me every five minutes that I was a dumbass for running into the wilderness at that time of night.

Ky pulled her back so the doctor could check me. "Just dehydration and some serious shock. Were you struck by lightening, young lady?" It wasn't a serious question. There hadn't been any storms in days!

"No," I still answered. The doctor wrote on his pad. "Well, you're free to go but only to go home. To _America_."

I stood and walked outside while Elsa still berated me from Ky's arms. "Where are Crosshairs and Jeremy?" I interrupted.

"Back in the Hall," Ky answered as fast as he could and with a smile. While we walked Elsa continued to lecture me. I didn't hear a thing of it. I continued to think of Quint and of the location of the ship. He was a Quintesson. What exactly was that? They all seemed vastly different from one another.

"Kathy Aragon!" Elsa screamed.

I stopped and looked at her with arms folded. "Did you hear a single word I said? No probably not! I asked you where you were for the past few days!"

My eyebrows knitted together. "Few days?" I looked from her to Ky. "I was gone for days?"

They both nodded.

I looked down at my feet. "Damn. God only knows where Alexander is now."

Elsa punched me with her mechanical arm. "Answer me!" She demanded.

I rubbed my arm. "I don't know, okay? I was attacked and then I don't know where I ended up."

"Attacked?" Ky looked at Elsa then back at me. "By what?"

I shrugged. "I think it was called a Quintesson? It was looking for Optimus Prime, though."

Fear flashed across Elsa's face."Elsa, what is it?"

"If someone is looking for Prime…. Ky, Bumblebee is in trouble."

"Who's Bumblebee?" We were climbing the hill before the Hall of Records.

"He's an autobot," Ky explained. "He's a friend and an ally to Crosshairs. A little bit of a troublemaker last time we saw him."

We walked a little bit more in dead silence. Before we could get to the door Crosshairs opened the door. "Whelp, I say we go," Crosshairs exclaimed dramatically. Jeremy was perched on Crosshair's shoulder. "Kathy! So good to see you're alive." He scooped me up in his hands. "We're all ready to go home, then?"

"Kind of," I looked down at Ky and Elsa then up at Crosshairs. "Put me down." Crosshairs carefully dropped me in front of the two. I sucked in a breath. "Guys, you two might be in some trouble as well. When I was attacked they were looking for Prime but they know where you're at too. Lay low and don't come back for a while, okay? Not until the threat passes."

Ky nodded. "Don't worry about us, Kathy. Go home." I didn't move. He put a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "Go home."

Crosshairs was actually careful as he took us back to the US. When he landed he set us down and transformed into the car then took us to get some cheap fast foot. Jeremy leaned against the hood while he ate and I sat on top of it. I had two bags full of food and went back twice for a refill of soda. It felt like I hadn't eaten in days. "So, what happened when you went missing?" He asked between bites.

I swallowed my burger. "I'm still unsure. I was attacked by something called Quintessons, some alien squid-looking thing. They went through my memories looking for Optimus." I drank a little bit of my soda. My throat still felt raw but it felt better with something cool. I thought of the events while I took another bite of my burger. "It showed me a possibility of where Alexander was but…but when I woke up some other…type of Quintesson thing had me. It said it was the same species but different type. The type that attacked me was called a Judge."

"What did it look like?" Crosshairs chimed in.

"It had four or five faces and it rotated between the faces. It was kinda egg shaped." I shrugged. "The other was like a squid. It was trying to use me for experiments."

Jeremy took the trash and threw it in the trashcan nearby. "So, what now?"

"I warned Elsa and Ky so now they know to keep their ears open. We have to do the same. In the meantime, let's just…sleep. Tomorrow we'll continue to look for Alexander."

Jeremy slept in the back seat while I was in the driver's seat, looking at reports about national monuments being vandalized. I couldn't sleep so I used the wifi in the parking lot of the fast food place. I sighed and nearly closed my laptop when an extra window popped up. The IM window had Alexander's screen name, Punk204. I clicked on the message.

 _Punk204: Sorry about hitting you on Tuesday. How's the head wound?_

I sat up with my heart pounding in my ears. Immediately, I ran my tracking program. While it was at work I gulped down my anxiety and typed.

 _Kit-Kat: It's okay, I guess. How's the search?_

It took several minutes for him to respond.

 _Punk204: Not too well. Made some new friends. They're…well you wouldn't believe me but I'll tell you anyway they can turn into cars! They're transformers like the one in the Chicago incident, like, forever ago! Remember those punks we raced? Well, they were the racers!_

 _Kit-Kat: You aren't going to get yourself killed, right?_

 _Punk204: Come on, Kat. You know me better than that!_ _Kit-Kat: That's a yes!_

A _ping_ and a third window opened and the computer was tracked across the country. Where was he going?

 _Punk204: I know you tracked me, Kat. Don't forget what I said._

 _Kit-Kat: Too bad, Alex. I'll find you. I'll go to hell and back to find you. You won't hurt me, anyway._

 _Punk204: I won't but these guys aren't scared to hurt you and they don't listen to me. I think they think I'm a pet. So, don't come after me._

I shook my head. "Crosshairs, wake up!" I slapped my hand against the horn.

"Oi, stop that!" He demanded.

"I know where Alexander's at. We have to go now before they move again."

"They?" Jeremy was awake in the back seat.

I nodded and twisted to look at him. "Yeah, he said he has some transformer friends. I don't think they're friends of yours, Crosshairs."

Crosshairs started driving. "That doesn't surprise me," he sighed. He drove all night. Jeremy switched to the passenger's seat halfway through. I kept my laptop in my lap, letting the heat of it burn through my jeans. I watched out the window. Alexander was in big trouble but so was Optimus. Which one was more important to keep?

What a stupid question to ask.

We stopped briefly at a diner so I could use their wifi and so that we could get some food once the sun was up in the air. I logged in to the IM chat. There was no activity from Alexander. I sighed and laid my head against the table while Jeremy scarfed down his food. "Nothing?" He asked as he watched the waitress walk past a third time since she gave us our food.

Her skirt was shorter than what any decent person would wear and every now and again she would "accidentally" drop her pencil and when she picked it up it came up a little bit more to a length that was teasing the male customers. Jeremy stared with the other patrons with round, wide eyes. In a hot rage I kicked his shin. "Ow! What?" He snapped and crumbs of food flew from his mouth to my cheek. I scowled and shut the laptop.

"Go ask her to your hotel room already!"

"I don't have a hotel room." He swallowed his food finally.

"Then get one." I shoved the laptop into my backpack.

Jeremy grinned impishly and leaned across the table. "Is this jealousy, sweetheart?"

I looked out the window with my arms folded. "No!" But in truth there was a twinge of jealousy. Where did it even come from? Why should I even care if he sleeps with anyone else or got into an actual relationship for that matter? It shouldn't bother me as much as it did in that moment.

He slid into the booth next to me and he draped his arm against the back of it. I turned and found his face extremely close to mine to the point where our noses barely touched. I could see every color in his brown eyes. I could feel the warmth of his breath. Being this close I was half surprised I didn't catch on fire. My whole body pounded with my pulse. "You won't even admit it?" He whispered. "I think it's…kind of cute. My best friend's little cousin has a crush on me." Behind his words I heard the laughter. He was laughing at me. This boy infuriated me! He was cruel to laugh.

I shoved him as hard as I could and he went tumbling into the waitress whose skirt was too short. Coffee and coffee cake was spilled all over him. A few plates broke around them to add to the mess. "Go to hell!" I grabbed my backpack and stormed outside. I didn't bother to stop and look back. Hot tears stung my eyes and I had to wipe them away. A familiar purple semi was parked next to Crosshairs when I walked up.

"Kathy, you've met Optimus Prime, right?"

I nodded. "Y-yeah. What's going on? What are you doing here?"

"You've been missing for a week. Your mother is very worried about you and Alexander."

"H-Have you found him yet?" I asked quickly.

"No, I have not. I need to take you home." His voice held a fatherly tone. This wasn't a request it was a command that I had to follow. There was something else I needed to tell him, about the Quintessons that are tracking him.

I opened my mouth but something else came out instead, "Not until I find Alexander. I'm sorry, Optimus."

"Kathy!" Jeremy finally ran up. I sighed. "Can you take him home, though?"

I pointed at Jeremy. "I'm sure his parents miss him."

"You are all going home," Optimus interrupted Jeremy as he started to object.

"Fine, can I ride with you then?" I didn't really wait for an answer I started to climb up into the driver's side.

"Wait, why drive with him? Who is this, Crosshairs?" Jeremy sounded like he was panicking.

"This is Optimus Prime, Jeremy. What happened in the diner? She acts really pissed off." I closed the door before I could hear the explanation. Crosshairs roared with laughter when the story was through. When Jeremy finally got into Crosshairs they drove in a small caravan. I closed my eyes and set my head against the steering wheel. The drive had no noise.

"Something is on your mind?"

"Yeah," I half whispered. "Actually, I need to tell you something, Optimus. I think-" There was no time to tell him. On the right side of him fire shot up and an explosion made my ears ring and sent Optimus up in the air. I covered my head with my hands and I felt my body being wrapped in a protective body. Heavy metals scraped against each other and locked into place. Sometime during the flip Optimus transformed and now he held me against his chest. Crosshairs set Jeremy down in a field full of cotton. I stared at the thing that attacked us and pointed. "That's the thing that attacked me! That's the Quintesson!" It was one of them. It wasn't the Judge but it was its ally. It was smaller than Crosshairs but bigger than a human. It had defensive spikes across its shoulders and it wielded an axe in its hands. Optimus put me down next to his feet. Now that the sun shined on it I could clearly it.

"Stay down," Optimus ordered while he engaged in a fight. Crosshairs joined him and I joined Jeremy in the cotton field, away from the ongoing fight. Everywhere they stepped left massive holes in the road. There were no mountains surrounding us and there was nowhere to hide except the cotton field.

"You have to run," Jeremy yelled.

I shook my head. "No way!" Behind us an explosion destroyed a part of the cotton field. The fight was coming closer to us now. We ran along the road. At one point Optimus was thrown and I stupidly stopped and covered my head, like it would help protect me from his massive body. Thankfully, he barely missed and skipped over us and into the field. It sent a spray of rocks and dirt.

"Are you stupid? Don't stop just keep moving forward!" Jeremy pushed me forward but I just stared at the fight. I barely heard him through the fighting and the noise in my mind. What was this machine? Was it like the autobots or something else entirely? Optimus jumped up and rejoined the fight quickly, which gave Crosshairs time to take out his gun.

Crosshairs took his time loading and aiming and muttering curses at Optimus's movement. "Shoot, Crosshairs!" Optimus ordered. He had his arms under the spiky machine, which tried helplessly to wriggle away. Crosshairs took his opportunity to fire it in the head.

"What the hell was that thing?" Jeremy whispered.

I ran to Optimus after he threw the body away from the scene. "Optimus!" I yelled. "The thing that attacked me was much smaller. What was that thing?"

"That was an executioner," he explained slowly. His voice boomed and echoed over the land. "They come in many sizes. They probably brought one much smaller after gauging the size of you humans so as to harm as little as possible and stop a disruption among your world."

"To hell with that. That thing almost killed me." I felt a swell of heat rising in my chest. It made me pant. "Optimus, what does it want with you? Are you guys in trouble?"

He nodded. "I fear we all may be. I think it is best if we get you home and go as far away as possible."

I shook my head and threw up my hands. "So that's it? You're running away?" There was a long silence between us. I ran my hands through my hair. "My cousin, Alexander, he says he's with some people like you guys but they aren't really autobots. I think he might be in trouble. We have to go after them. And whether you're helping or not I really don't care."

Optimus finally nodded.

Finally, an answer that made me happy. "Thank you."


	6. The things that runamuck

I chewed on my fingernail while Optimus drove the horrendously long drive. The sun was gone and replaced by the moon and stars. I'd never seen so many stars before! They nearly took up the entire sky and painted it in sparkling whites and blues from living and dying stars.

"I've never seen so many stars before," I whispered to myself. An hour later my stomach churned. I leaned my head on the steering wheel. "We need to stop for a while. I'm getting sick."

Optimus never said anything but he stopped briefly on a dirt road. He and Crosshairs transformed to their fuller forms after Jeremy and I hopped out. The ground was cool, but a little bit uncomfortable. It felt good, still, while I stared up at the stars.  
"Aren't there supposed to be more of you?" Jeremy asked suddenly. "In the Chicago Incident and others like it there have been at least four or five of you, right? Where are the others?"

"We have been scattered, recently. Some of us chose to work with your human governments and others of us," he looked at Crosshairs as he said the last part, "had become very suspicious of your government."

"Well can you blame me? After what happened after what happened with Lockdown?" He shook his head. "Nu-uh, no way am I working with them again."

"You trust us, right?" Everyone looked down at me. I still didn't feel well enough to get up.

"Yeah, I guess. But you kids are different. For some reason you trust us."

I laughed. "Of course we do. You guys saved the world, for Christ's sake, and on more than one occasion." I stood and patted the dust off my clothes. "Our government, and almost every other one, is just run by a bunch of idiots elected in those positions by-for the most part-a bunch of idiots. Unfortunately it seems that idiocy is not only genetic but they make up the majority of the world."

At hearing my explanation Crosshairs roared and wouldn't stop for several minutes. "Ain't that the truth, sweetheart?" To Optimus he said, "I like her. Can't we keep her around a lot longer? I think Bumblebee would like her."

Optimus glared at him. "We're moving out." Without anything else to say he transformed back into the Semi.

Jeremy caught my arm before I could hop inside. "Hey, I really am sorry about the diner."

I jerked my arm away. "Doesn't matter, Jeremy." I wanted to hop inside but something made me turn to him. "And just for the record I really don't care who you go and see and for how long and…whatever it is you do with girls, I don't care. Just…leave me out of it next time." I started to turn back around but Jeremy grabbed my arm a little too roughly and he turned me around.

"I did keep you out of it, Princess." He spat the nickname like it was poison. "You couldn't keep your smart mouth out of it."

"What you did was out of line back there!" I screamed and pointed in a random direction.

"And what you did wasn't?" He shouted back. "You insinuated that I couldn't keep a steady relationship."

I laughed darkly. "I'm surprised you even know how to use the word 'insinuated'." His face turned red from his forehead to his neck. The next thing I knew Jeremy's fist came up and out and _bang!_ The sound stunned me. My eyes widened only a little bit. A small whimper escaped from his lips and he took his fist away and let me go. While he walked away my knees nearly gave out, only Optimus kept me standing upright. I couldn't move. I was frozen. Even my hot tears couldn't thaw me. I slowly turned my head to see the damage to Optimus but there was none.

"That was really out of line, you know." Crosshairs scolded as he transformed.

I hopped inside of the purple semi and wiped my cheeks. "Are you-" Optimus started but I interrupted him.

"I'm fine. Let's just go find Alexander and bring him home." I don't know how Optimus was able to drive straight through the night and I briefly wondered how fast we were really going for us to get to North Dakota so quickly. We stopped in a shady parking lot of a sleezy motel.

I looked at the map on my laptop and then up at our surroundings. It should've been too early for people to be out but in a shady motel everyone was out at all hours of the night and day. Women in clothes that didn't quite fit them correctly wavered in and out with pink in the part of their eyes that should've been white. Blue and yellow painted their arms like painful temporary tattoos. The men wore long coats and sunglasses. It was easy to tell the younger ones from the older, wiser, men by whether or not their pants sagged. Two pairs of teens ran from two men. One of the teens tripped over their clothes and the other was eventually tackled.

"His laptop pinged this motel." I whispered in a half grunt. "Alexander, what did you get yourself into?" I rubbed my temples. From the corner of my eyes I saw Jeremy get out of Crosshairs and jog up to a car. "What are you doing?" I whispered. Jeremy knocked on the window and the door opened and Alexander stepped out. The two exchanged a type of, I guess, manly version of a hug, pat on the back, and started to play catch up. I got out and ran up to the two boys. "Alexander!" I yelled.

He turned toward me and then I saw the resemblance of his family a lot clearer. He took on the nightly hair of his father but the fair skin of mama and me, and he had cloudy grey eyes that were outlined by thick eyelashes. I wrapped my arms around his neck as tightly as I could. After a moment he pushed me away. "What are you doing here?" He forced out the threatening tone. Underlying it I could hear his relief. "Auntie is looking for you!" He shoved me. I tripped and hit my back into the car behind me. "You've been gone for weeks!"

I shoved him back but he barely moved. "She's looking for you too, you idiot! I came to make sure you didn't get yourself killed."

Alexander rolled his eyes. "Well, tell her I'm fine when Jeremy takes you back home."

I huffed and kicked the back of his knee. He went down almost immediately. "You have the personality of your mother, I hope you know." He looked up at me with curiously wide eyes, now I had him on a hook. "I met her in person. She and your father are fine."

Alexander stood and grabbed both of my arms. "Where are they?"

My mind flashed back to Quint and the squid-like aliens that nearly killed me. I could still feel the cold air bite my lungs and sting my blister-filled foot and I could feel the blood running over my feet.

He shook me. "Tell me!" Jeremy put his hands between us and shoved him off.

"That's enough! Alex, she went through a lot to find your family the least you can do is promise you'll come home."

Something flashed in his eyes, something I've never seen before. It was almost apologizing and almost mischievous. There was the tiniest movement in his wrist and I could hear the metal scraping against metal and locking in place. "Run!" I barely heard Jeremy's voice. He didn't turn me around or try to shove me away he ran straight past me. I stood with wide eyes, amazed at the sudden transformation. Everyone else ran inside, even the under cover cops ran for cover. These transformers didn't attempt to hide the bright purple decepticon mark on their chest.

I backed up a few steps as one of them leaned down with its hand outstretched. I couldn't turn around and run and I was snatched up from the ground. "Be careful with her!" Alexander warned. The black decepticon waved his hand as if to wave away his words.

"Don't worry, I'll be extra careful." The way he said it, though, sounded almost sarcastic.

"Crosshairs, don't!" Optimus yelled. I turned awkwardly to see what was happening behind me. By the time I did, though, I was being dropped. A scream ripped from my lungs.

"I got 'er!" Another hand reached out to grab me. I tried in vain to pry its fingers away from me, knowing full well that I couldn't.

"Alexander, tell your friends to let me go!" Alexander shook his head.

Crosshairs prepared to take another shot but Optimus grabbed the barrel of the gun. "Don't, you might hit her."

"Do you know the likelihood of me hitting the girl by accident?"

Jeremy stepped forward. "Dude, what are you doing? Do you know how much trouble you'll be in?" He was acting so calm. Why was he so calm?

Alexander nodded. "I just have to find my biological parents."

A scream ripped from my lungs when I heard metal against metal and them locking in different places. When everything calmed down again I found myself surrounded on all sides. I tried the door but it wouldn't open even when I threw my body against it the door wouldn't open. I punched the window but all it did was send shockwaves of pain up my arm. "Optimus!" I screamed as I punched the window again. "Optimus, get me out of here!"

"Don't worry, sweetheart, we're comin' to save ya!" Crosshairs responded.

"Don't hurt her, Runamuck!" Alexander warned.

The white car faked an offended gasp. "We're just gonna go have a bit of fun!" Runamuck's tires squealed against the asphalt and he took off. The back of my head hit the seat and we were off. My chest felt so much smaller and I couldn't breath. I couldn't think about anything except everything I could've done to avoided this but there was nothing I could've done except run and heed Alexander's warning. Blue and red flashing lights reflected against the tinted windows. "Nice going, dumbass," I smirked proudly. "Now you've gone and pissed off the cops."

Runamuck laughed. "I wouldn't worry about them if I were you." He turned a sharp left and an even sharper right turn. His turns sent me into the door. By the time we turned into an ally and the lights and engine cut off my arm was sore. I tried my hand at the door again but found it locked still. I kicked the dashboard.

"Take me back!" I demanded. On its own will my seat jerked forward and knocked my nose into the dash. I groaned and held my nose and listened as the police sirens wailed past us, into the distance.


	7. Things that runabout

Runamuck finally transformed and dropped me on my arm after several hours of what felt like aimlessly driving. The other transformer and Alexander waited for us at our destination and Runamuck was quickly scolded by his partner. The pain in my nose now felt dull but my arm flared in pain. Sloping mountains and tall trees surrounded us on all sides.

Alexander ran over and helped me up.

Somewhere there was a memory that itched but the memory of Quint came up instead. I could remember his squid-like arms and the odd scaly reptile that he had in the darkened room. I screamed and pushed Alexander away. Everybody stopped to stare.

"What are you screaming for?" Alexander was trying hard to not yell at me.

All I wanted was Optimus and Crosshairs and, oddly enough, Jeremy. I wanted to be back home and I wanted all of this to be one very long horrendous nightmare or a bad daydream. "I just want to go home."

"I wanna go home. I wanna go home," Runamuck mocked in a high-pitched voice. "That's all I've heard from her and I'm getting tired of it."

"Look, I promise you'll get to go home after you tell me where they are," Alexander tried to talk reasonably.

"Alexander, didn't it ever occur to you that maybe they wanted to hide for a reason? That maybe they were in a lot of trouble and they were trying to keep you safe? Elsa doesn't want you finding her. If she did she wouldn't have given you up to mama."

Crickets sang along with other nightly bugs I didn't know. Fireflies lit up the air around us in beautifully random patterns. Frogs answered the crickets.

"I have an idea," the other transformer picked me up and held me in his palm. He gave my body a tiny squeeze until he heard me scream. Pain rushed down to my feet and my toes curled against it. "I'll just keep squeezing until you answer the question."

"Runabout, stop! She's already hurt!"

He didn't listen. The pain grew until it felt like my lungs would collapse. "Russia! She's just Northeast of Moscow!" It came out in a slur of words.

Runabout was much gentler in dropping me on the ground. I sat on the cool forest floor. "Let's go to Russia. We haven't been to Russia yet," Runabout told the other two.

Alexander's hand came on my shoulder but I doubled back and backed away. His eyes looked like a gloomy cloud.

"So that's it. I can go now, right?"

Alexander nodded. "Yes."

"Now wait a minute, why end the fun so soon." Runamuck was hit by Runabout in the back of the head.

"A minute ago you were complaining about her whining."

He shrugged. "Yeah but its kind of funny to see her panic."

I wanted to run, I should've run, but a sound like a helicopter stopped me. The first shot was more of a missile than a gunshot. It hit Runabout and Alexander threw himself on me to protect me from the falling embers. Before Runamuck could find out where it came from another missile hit him.

Stomping feet shook the ground and roared in almost perfect unison but as it came closer it became less in unison and guns were pointed up at the two transformers. I wanted to run but Alexander held me firm by the shoulders.

Men in olive green suits stomped through the trees and dropped down from the air. They held automatic weapons at the wounded transformers who must have thought it better to give up instantly than attempt to fight. We were surrounded and I felt relief flood my body.

The soldiers escorted us from the trees and shuffled us into the back of a truck. I overheard one of the soldiers on the radio say something about Optimus but I didn't attempt to listen in. I watched the night sky and I ignored Alexander's whispers.

"Did you hear me?" He shook my shoulder.

I shook my head. "I'm not talking to you." I grumbled. The car rolled and gained speed slowly.

"I'm sorry I scared you," he whispered again.

I shook my head again as if to shake off some nasty thought.

As soon as we got to the base they gave us both separate beds in separate bunkers. The bunker I stayed in they made sure was emptied of male life so that I only slept in a room with women. I didn't want to be asleep. If I fell asleep would I see them in my dreams? Do the quintessons haunt my mind too?

I closed my eyes for what felt like a brief moment.

 _I don't remember where it all began. I was trying to figure out where I was and why I was there. All I remembered was staring at Quint's back as I walked like an obedient dog through a dark hall. We went through a door that led to a platform. Underneath us were groans of the souls of the dead or the dying or maybe both._

 _I didn't hear anything and despite my curiosity I didn't move. I stood with a stiff back and my arms behind my back. Then, I heard two words from a voice that wasn't Quint's._

 _"Show them," it said._

 _The platform we were once standing on was now solid earth. We were in the plains of Africa. I looked up from watching the quintesson's back to look fearlessly into the hungry eyes of a hyena. It laughed and darted through the dead grass, which moaned and screamed with each bounce._

 _I didn't move. I couldn't move. Its jaws sank into my shoulder but it felt like electricity. My arms finally moved but it was restricted by rope._

 _"You didn't do it!" The voice shouted._

 _I looked up at the quintesson that looked very similar to Quint but he was much older and much wiser. "Why won't you obey?" He screamed at me and I screamed as another shock went through me._

I gasped before my face hit the ground. My nose felt a little sore but I pushed myself to sit up and rubbed my nose, a little annoyed. It still hurt from me hitting Runamuck's dashboard the night before.

The first rays of sun were peaking over and it appeared only a few soldiers were wakened and getting ready to wake their comrades. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and got to my feet. They felt sore and they were red and broken blisters hung to remind me of my ordeal in Russia.

Slipping my feet in my shoes was a painful ordeal. I winced and groaned until they were securely on my feet but the open blisters still screamed as I walked out into the sunlight. It was quiet enough that I could hear Alexander speaking to someone one the side of one of the barracks near the one I slept in alone. He looked to be on the phone and by the way he paced it could have only been one person he spoke to.

He crossed the small distance between our barracks and as he approached I noticed two army men walked closer, acting as casually as they could while being in tackling distance. Alexander must've noticed too because he stopped at arms length and handed me the phone.

"Aunt Alisha is on." He mumbled.

I didn't think this far ahead. What would I actually say to mama to make the punishment less harsh? I slowly took the phone and put it to my ear. "Mama?" I half whispered.

"You're okay! You're okay," mama breathed into the phone. "Where the hell are you?" She screamed.

"North Dakota, maybe?" I glanced up at Alexander. He waited impatiently for the phone, tapping his hand against his leg.

"They told me what happened. What were you thinking? Going to Russia without a passport or any I.D. is just stupid!"

I rolled my eyes. "Elsa did it all the time, mama, and she's a citizen."

Mama went quiet.

"I bet her husband did it too. You know Ky, right mama?" The sound of my own voice made me half regret that I didn't swallow my tongue.

"Watch yourself, Kathy."

I growled. "I am watching myself, Mama, and I'm watching Alexander too."

She snorted. "Yeah you watch yourself just fine since I'm sure you let Alexander kidnap you."

I thrust the phone back into Alexander's hand and turned on my heels and pushed past the soldiers. "She's not listening, Aunt Alisha." Alexander mumbled into the phone. I wasn't sure where to go and hide from everyone. Everyone seemed to only have their eyes on two people.

I sat behind the mess hall, finally. Now everyone was up and running around to do their jobs. Nobody came over to talk or comfort me. Crosshairs and Optimus were nowhere in sight. I hugged my knees to my chest and ran my fingers through the dirt.

My dream came to my mind clearly but I shook out the thought. A few soldiers ran by me.

"Are you sure Optimus is here?" One of them asked.

The other one nodded. "Yeah they said he was."

I frowned and watched other soldiers run in the same direction as the other two. I finally stood and followed them, ignoring the stinging in my feet as the first forms of sweat met the blisters. The crowd wasn't hard to find but seeing over the heads was. Was Jeremy with him? I really couldn't wait to hear about my revenge when his mother found out what he'd been doing.

I finally had no choice but to push through the crowd. Everyone took a few steps back to allow Optimus room to revert back to his full form. I finally broke through the crowd and stumbled to his feet.

Crosshairs and Jeremy were nowhere in sight.

Optimus was careful in kneeling down to be as close to my height as he was able. "It's good to see you are unharmed," he breathed out the words in relief.

"Where are Crosshairs and Jeremy?" I looked up at him.

"They left this morning, I suspect to look for you. I came here for help but I see now that you found them first."

I ran my hand through my hair. "You can contact them, right, and tell Crosshairs that Jeremy can go back home?"

Optimus nodded. "And Alexander?"

"That dumbass is here too. Don't worry. What about you and those quintesson things?"

"Do not worry about us. We shall deal with them the way we have always dealt with threats."

I folded my arms. "History tells me humans helped you deal with threats. You may have done all the fighting but they did all the heavy lifting. Are you sure you don't need a human's help again?"

A smile spread across his face like a father. "If I do need a human's help it will not be yours. Your family has done enough for me." He nodded as if he was sure it was the end of the conversation and stood and transformed back into a semi.

Everyone was in awe at the transformation and the crowd broke whatever codes of conduct they were taught by hooting and howling. It was a military's version of a crowd of middle school girls seeing their favorite boy bands by the way they acted.

While I watched Optimus go I could only think of one thing: mama will not be happy if she finds out he broke his promise.


	8. The Right to an Unfair Trial

When we got home from the airport mama was too tired to scold us. To make everything feel worse we found out she had a security system installed and that she made sure we didn't have the combination to the alarms. Cameras were installed all around the house as well.

I sank into the bathtub and felt the warmth relieved the knots in my back but it didn't relieve the blisters in my feet. When I got into my soft pajamas and sank into my bed I only stared at the ceiling. My laptop was still in my backpack, untouched since we got home. Mama changed the wifi code as well so that getting on it was useless.

The radio was on as my only entertainment. I didn't remember if I even listened to music on my little road trip adventure.

My bed felt so soft and warm. My back didn't hurt with being cramped inside a car-like alien. My mind was no more jumbled and restless than it had been while worrying about Alexander.

I had asked mama on the way from the airport why she had never told us that she knew Optimus or the other Autobots and why she never told us that Elsa was just away helping them out. She never answered and at one point told me to stop talking. It made me sick to my stomach that she snapped at me like that.

My eyes fluttered close for what felt like a moment and when I opened them again my window was open. Sleep clouded my mind as I tried to find rational reasons of why my window would be open. The most rational thing I came up with was that I never left home in the first place or maybe a racoon-dog finally broke my window.

Mama stood at the door with her arms crossed. "Why's the window open?" She grumbled.

I squinted at her. "What's open?" My words slurred together as I tried to predict what she would say next.

"The window." She growled.

"The widow is open? I don't know why a widow would be open. Wait…" I rubbed the grogginess from my eyes. "The window is open?"

"Don't try that trick on me."

"What trick? The whole I just woke up and half asleep trick? What time is it?" I looked at my digital clock. 11:58 pm. "Look, I really don't know why my window would be open." I closed and locked it. "There. It's closed."

She didn't leave.

I rolled my eyes and grabbed my blanket and dragged it with me down the stairs.

"Where are you going?" She yelled and walked after me.

"On the damn couch!" I picked up a decorated pillow and put it at the arm of the three-cushioned couch. "You didn't believe me so I'm sleeping in here. I don't know why my window was open. Maybe the Easter Bunny tried to crawl through the window and the alarms scared him away."

She stared me down but I stared right back. After a long time she broke the stare to head back to her room. I lay on my side so that I stared at the back of the couch. My fingers traced random patterns and tears streaked down my cheeks.

After several minutes of lying in the dark I heard strange muffled noises almost like footsteps combined with maybe screams. I pushed myself to sit up and I tried to see up the dark stairs but there was nothing.

I put my head back on the pillow. Maybe I heard the TV coming from mama's room. My eyes closed again and I breathed out the anxiety that welled within my heart. I hadn't told mama about the scary parts of my journey and I didn't plan to. Was this what PTSD felt like? Something told me no.

Something eerily familiar like the wire-like tentacle of the first quintesson I ran into moved a piece of my hair away from my face almost too gently. My body went stiff and froze. I barely even breathed.

"I see you survived…" The voice sounded almost pleased. "I thought for sure you would've died. Who helped you?"

I opened my eyes and pushed myself to a sit up position as quickly as I could before the quintesson could try to pull out any information from me.

"You are awake," the second voice was wise.

I jumped from the couch and screamed as I backed up toward the back door.

"Nobody's coming to your aid, Aragon." It came closer.

"Why? What did you do?" I demanded and turned on the light. In the light I saw the fullness of what it looked like. It truly was five faces spinning around a bullet-like body and wire-like tentacles but I never got to count how many.

The faces changed. This one sounded menacing and at the same time sounded like it was laughing. "We only helped them get a little sleep."

My body shook as it came closer. My back finally hit the door.

The face changed again. The face was stoic and the voice was wise. "You are scared. Understandable but you must be brave. Your fate will depend on your cooperation. Elsa Fischer, where is she?"

I turned around and the door opened with ease, though the alarm blared. Without a second thought I sprinted to the gate and fumbled with the lock. The gate was only held shut by a lock like one I had on my locker at school and this one required a key I didn't possess. I gave it a tug in vain.

"She isn't cooperating…" I turned around to see an angry face as the Judge came closer. I put my hands up but I couldn't quite reach the top of the gate. I should've known, I couldn't even reach the top of the walls that separated our backyard from our neighbors. I stretched on my toes and put my hands on it but it slid away from the sweat that built up on my palm.

The wiry tentacle wrapped around my head and a shocking pulse was sent throughout my body. My body gave into the weight the memories provided and I fell to my knees.

"Where is Elsa Fischer?" The angry voice asked again.

The memories of Russia came in full. Everything was pulled out down to the location of the Hall of Records.

The wise voice said. "You told her to hide already. You are a smart girl."

"You knew she was in Russia," it took all of my energy and past my fear to spit out the words.

"You're right but it would've been much easier to get an exact location. Based on these memories I judge that feigning we have the boy may draw her out." Memories of Optimus Prime at the military base slowly surfaced. "So he will challenge us directly. There may not be a reason to go after him if he is coming after us." The memories of Quint suddenly flooded my mind. My heart sped up and I could barely breathe.

The voice that sounded of laughter said, "This expelled scientist may know the area and its hiding places. And now we have a bribe."

My body dropped to the ground and my vision was blurred. My hand twitched. This time wasn't as bad as last time. To my swimming head the voices all blurred into one. "Kathy Aragon, I have decided you are not guilty of any crimes that have been brought against your family. I have decided you shall not be killed but I hereby sentence you to a life of servitude under the quintesson scientist you know only as Quint." Something loomed over me on the other side of me but my vision wouldn't correct itself. My head came in and out of darkness. "Do not kill her." The quintesson ordered.

I hoped to escape into the recesses of my mind. Hoped that this was all a bad dream and that it would soon be over.


	9. No Escape

I woke to find out the truth was much worse for me. This was not a dream. I was in a nightmare in which there was no waking up from. This time instead of rope I was physically strapped to a bed and my ankles were shackled to the bed as if it was an extra protective measure.

My mouth was dry and my throat was sore. I needed water but there was none.

"Yes I am sure this is where you will find the woman." I heard Quint's voice in the hall and my mind filled with memories of the last time I was here. Would he act like he did last time or would rage fill him?

On the other side of the room was another bed where a man lay and groan. He looked horrible! Scars made up his body, cuts made up his face, he looked almost unrecognizable as one of the Russian military men that found me a few weeks ago.

Quint entered the room alone and made his way to the man. I tried to focus on what was going on.

"Poor soul never had a chance of surviving anyway." The man made a sickly groan. "Don't worry. Your death will come swiftly enough." He turned away from the man and came over to me. "I genuinely hope you enjoyed your time outside because that will be the last time you escape me."

I was too tired to try to keep my eyes open or maybe this is what it feels like to not have any hope left. My eyes fluttered close but a sting in my arm made me open them again. Quint was taking blood from my arm.

"How do you feel?"

I remembered fighting this question last time. This time I answered honestly, "Tired…thirsty…"

"The shocks your body suffered through this time were far less severe. As soon as you eat we will begin."

"Begin what?"

The smile that came over his face made my hair stand on end. "You will soon see."

* * *

I stared at the inside of my eyelids but sleep wouldn't overcome me. Quint came back into the room with what smelled like human food. I opened my eyes and watched him loosen the straps from the bed.

On the plate the food looked like mush. I poked it with the spoon he handed me and bravely took a bite. It tasted like stale lemongrass and it was slimy. It took all of my energy to not gag it back up. The alien scientist watched me with curious eyes.

"What is this?" I finally asked.

"Just some human foods I put together. I've been studying all about what kinds of foods are essential to sustain human life. Eat. It will be the only thing you get before we start."

I looked over at the groaning man. If I had to guess of his cause of death I would've said his stomach blew out due to this poisonous food. I sucked in air and ate it as quickly as I could while breathing as little as I could.

Next I chugged the water he handed to me. I felt sick but tried not to think about the food that much. He took the plate and the cup and stacked it neatly on the tray. The groaning from my neighbor ceased so Quint checked up on him and only shook his head.

"He's a stubborn one. Just won't die."

"Human spirit is resilient. You'll find we won't die so easily."

His smile made me uneasy again. "I hope to find that is true."

After he took away the dishes I laid on the bed. Sleep suddenly washed over me like a warm and comfortable blanket and I welcomed it knowing full well I could die if I did.

* * *

I never dreamed. I woke up with the sun in my eyes and an awful pain in my side. "Get up." Quint ordered. "You may leave."

It didn't take long for me to scramble to my feet. "Really?" I smiled. "Seriously?"

He nodded.

I hugged him tightly. "Thank you," I whispered and turned and ran down the mountain. It felt like I hit a wall when the first round of shocks came. It came from the pain at my side and spread throughout my body. There was a brief pause, enough for me to scramble up the mountain toward the ship that jutted out of the trail. The shocks stopped.

"What did you do to me?" I screamed.

"What you have running through your body is a small device that will continuously shock you if you try to run away or disobey me. I told you already that you will not escape me. You can't."

Tears spilled out over my eyelids and I ran my hand through my hair. This was a cruel trick. The air nipped my skin and made it red. I took in a deep shaky breath to keep me from attacking him. From this mountain you couldn't see the city lights I remembered seeing that night long ago.

"Since I can count on you not running I will allow you some freedoms. You will come in at sunset and we shall resume. Understood?"

I wiped away my tears. "Understood," I whispered and listened for him to go back inside. When I knew he wasn't around I screamed because I had too much pent up frustration and sadness and when my throat was raw and sore I sat on a rock next to the entrance.

I lifted up my shirt enough to see a line that was already pink and it barely jutted above the skin. "How am I scaring over so quickly?" I whispered to myself. It didn't matter now. There was nothing I could do now except watch the horizon for the next several hours

"At least Alexander is at home," I whispered. "And Runamuck and Runabout are with the military. Mama's home with Alexander," I sniffed and wiped the tears I thought were there. "And that dumbass Jeremy is with Crosshairs. He should be safe. But are Elsa and Optimus Prime safe? I hope so." The sun started to paint oranges and pinks. I watched it a little longer.

It was halfway down when the shocks came again. As soon as there was a pause I waited just a little longer, hoping that I could see the first of the stars come. The second round of shocks were worst than the first. I barely forced myself to scramble on my hands and knees inside.

My heart for a moment felt like it stopped but then it beat hard and fast and I knew that it was just my imagination and adrenaline. Quint stood in front of me, waiting patiently. "If you can prove to be a good girl, my pet, then maybe you'll see the stars again."

I looked up at Quint. I wanted to strangle him. I wanted to make sure he never did this to another living being ever again.

"That's why you disobeyed, right? So you could see the stars? Come along. We have too much work to do and you do not have a lot of time."

I had a hard time pushing myself up. The shocks made my whole body feel numb and I couldn't pick up my feet in the same way. The earth felt like it was shifting and I had to lean against the wall to keep myself steady. The man on the cot, I saw as I walked in looked sickly pale. "Is he…?"

Quint didn't answer. He only waved me over to my bed. I followed and sat on the cot and watched him fill a syringe with clear fluid.

I looked away. I wanted to sleep because then I could imagine I was home.


	10. New kind of power

_I was home with Alexander and mama. Everything was normal. We were at the dinner table with tasteless food. Mama was smiling at us and laughing with us. When I accidentally let it slip that Alexander got a parking ticket mama scolded him and he glared at me. I tried to look innocent enough._

 _Outside there was a lightening strike in the clear blue sky and it came through the window and struck me. Alexander and mama went on like there was nothing happening but I was screaming for them. I reached out to them…_

My eyes snapped open when the shocks finally stopped. It came from outside of my body this time.

"Good, you didn't die." Quint took off wires that were attached to my chest.

"What?" I rubbed my eyes.

"Your heart stopped for a minute. Fascinating how quickly and easily you were revived." He jot down some notes.

"I was asleep." I groaned.

He continued to take notes. "Did you dream or did you see a light? Humans often talk about lights and dying."

"Because a light is a euphemism for heaven. No. There was no light it was a dream." There was no reason for me to fight against his questions. "And then you shocked me and woke me." I turned over on my side.

"Do you feel hungry?"

"No. I feel sleepy," I grumbled. The shock that was sent through my body only made my stomach numb. It felt like someone jabbed me with small needles and I turned over to look at him.

"Get up. We have work to do."

I sighed and got to my feet. I was surprised at how much strength I had. I had heard people say they had no energy and no strength after surgery or after being revived. But I had enough energy to run and keep up with Quint.

Quint took me to an empty room. It was dark to the point I couldn't see what was in there, if anything even was. "Go on in." He insisted.

I stared into the darkness. There was no light that came from it. I hated pure darkness. It made me afraid and it made me think of the man who kidnapped me all those years ago.

"Well?"

I couldn't move. "Please don't make me," I whispered. "I'll do anything else but please don't make me do this."

He saw the fear in my eyes but I didn't see any emotion from him. "I will not tell you again." He said simply.

My breath caught in my throat and I looked into the room. My heart pulsed throughout my body but I forced my feet inside the room. The door shut behind me. No light came from under the door.

I felt around the space behind me where I knew the door was and I sat against the wall. My eyes played tricks on me as it tried to make sense of shapes. My eyes darted around the room to follow the shapes I imagined.

After several minutes my heart slowed and I pulled my knees to my chest and closed my eyes. Maybe I'd be able to sleep. The door opened and I looked at the open door.

"How was it in here?"

I didn't answer. I got to my feet but for some reason I waited. I stared at the hall but I waited.

"Follow me."

I followed him back into the room with a now empty cot and my own. "He died?"

Quint nodded and grabbed his notepad. I sat on the cot. "Did you see anything without the light?"

I shook my head.

He frowned. "Right. Well, let's move on then."

"What no break?"

"Why would we take a break? We have too much to do, my pet."

I growled. "Stop calling me that! I'm not some pet!"

"One of the definitions of pet is something that one devotes special attention to, no?"

"Well yes but I'm not some pet project."

"But you are to me. And you humans to us are like animals. Something we would've kept as a companion or just something to care for since we don't care for companionship all that much. Therefore you are _my_ pet."

I huffed. "On Earth I am not your anything."

"In most of your countries this would be perfectly acceptable. Would you rather a different name? Perhaps you would like it better if I treated you like a slave?" Quint studied my reaction. I held my breath. "No?"

"My name is Kathy."

"But I do not care for your name. I will call you whatever I please."

My fist came up but I had enough sense to turn around and punch the wall. Shockwaves of pain went up my arm and to my shoulder. I winced and shook out my hand.

"We shall begin and then you shall eat and rest." He filled the syringe with the clear liquid I knew would put me into a deep sleep. I blinked back tears from the pain in my arm. "Do not fear. You will always wake up."

* * *

When I did wake up again I was watching Quint put his bloodied tools on a once sterile metal tray. I groaned and ran my hand over the top of my head. "My hair-" I sat up. My hair was no longer the beautiful blonde, long California hair that every Hollywood director for cheesy romantic comedies looked for. A part of it was shaved but it was small compared to the length that was cut.

"Long fur will only get in the way." Quint shrugged.

"Hair. It's hair!"

"Hair. Fur. It is all the same thing."

I huffed and grabbed the tray and took it away from him. "You are right and you are wrong. Hair only grows normally in specific areas of the body and only big patches grow in certain places such as the top of my head. Fur covers an entire body of a mammal like a dog or a cat. So therefore what I have is hair _not_ fur."

He took the tray back without any resistance from me. "Your long hair would've only gotten in the way. It's better short."

I ran my fingers through my short hair. "You cut it too short," I grumbled. It was more like a pixie haircut. "Is that really what you put me to sleep for?"

"Patience. In time you will understand why, hopefully."

Hopefully. I didn't like that word. Quint waved me to follow and I did with my arms crossed. I lost all sense of time now but I knew I was extremely hungry and thirsty. I bit my lip, though, and didn't complain.

He opened the door to the dark room. "I will bring you food in a few hours."

I stared into the darkness and sucked in a breath and opened my mouth but no objections came out like I wanted. So, I locked my jaw, ground my teeth, stepped into the room and waited for him to shut the door.

"Go into the middle of the room." He ordered.

I held my breath and took a few steps further until I suspected I reached the middle. He closed the door.

In the middle of the room I couldn't tell what was around me. I decided to hold out my hands and run them against the wall. I held out my hands in front of me and stepped forward until I found the wall. It was perfectly smooth and freezing. Whatever made up the borders would freeze when it was the middle of winter.

About halfway around the room I came across something metal that leaned against the wall. At first I assumed it was the door but then its eyes started to glow. I jumped away and backed up until my back hit the other side of the room.

It moved much like the other transformers and it almost sounded like them too but its roar was metallic. I screamed and tripped over my own feet.

I couldn't see what it was but it loomed over me. I threw up my hands to protect myself and it threw itself against the wall and stopped. The door opened outward but nobody was there. I scrambled over to it and looked around. "Quint!" I yelled.

Nobody answered.

I looked back in the room and opened the door more to see what was inside. It was made of material similar to the autobots but it looked like a small humanoid shark with sharp teeth. The eyes lit up again and I bolted out of the room and out the door of the ship. I fell to my knees on the snowy ground.

Snow.

I looked up to the sky. "What month is it?" I asked myself.

"There you are!"

I stood up and turned to Quint as quickly as I could. "That thing in there attacked me!" I pointed behind him into the hallway.

"What thing?"

"In that room…" How could I describe it? "That shark thing!"

Quint walked back inside and I followed. "I did not give you permission to leave."

I frowned and stopped. "The door opened, though. There was nobody in the hall but I thought…"

He turned toward me and looked over me once. "What happened in that room?"

I rubbed the back of my neck and told him everything.

He rubbed his chin, or at least what counted as a chin. "That was not what I was trying to unlock but we will see where it leads. Come, you did well today."

I followed Quint again. Somewhere in the back of my mind I found a spark of fondness for Quint but also I found a need to protect him. "Quint, how long have I been here?"

"Not long at all. A few days, maybe."

We walked into a crude makeshift kitchen area. I sat on the floor while he rummaged through the food. "We're out of everything," he grumbled. "I guess this will be a good time to put your loyalty to the test."

I looked around at the kitchen. It looked almost like a human kitchen but these were things he probably made himself over the years.

"Really? A few days?"

"That is what I said. It is now, what you humans call, November. Almost December." We walked into a crude makeshift kitchen area. I sat on the floor while he rummaged through the food. "We're out of everything," he grumbled. "I guess this will be a good time to put your loyalty to the test."

I looked around at the kitchen. It looked almost like a human kitchen but these were things he probably made himself over the years.

"Go into the nearest town and get some human food for yourself by any means you have. While you are out get those little sweet dark brown squares. The ones made from a cocoa bean."

I knit my eyebrows and my forehead crinkled. "You mean chocolate?"

He nodded. "You have four hours to get back."

"Where's the nearest town?"

He pointed west. "Be careful on your way down."

"Okay." I stood and walked outside. It was very cold. I had to rub my arms to keep warm but I highly doubted Quint had jackets to provide. The snow crunched under my feet as I walked past the imaginary line where I had my first round of shocks.

A smile slowly formed. Finally, I would have human interaction again. The smile disappeared almost as slowly. After two hours I would have to head back to prove to Quint I could be trusted. Maybe then he will stop using the shocks against me.


	11. Tested Loyalty

People crowded around the televisions in the window to watch the news with me. I had a new jacket that I stole too easily from a garage sale on the way to the store and I used the debit card I forgot I had in my pocket for food so I felt less guilty about stealing.

The news plastered my face on the screen. Everything was in Russian so I didn't understand it but I looked at myself in the reflection of the window. My eyes held nearly no light of hope and with my blonde hair chopped off I found it was brown underneath, a color I never even knew was there. I became numb to the warm and fuzzy feeling that mama and Alexander were still looking for me.

My face plastered the screen but nobody suspected me. My long hair made my heart-shaped face seem almost adult-like but this short hair made it seem like I was 13 or maybe younger. Everyone gathered around and spoke in almost a buzz of Russian.

I pushed ahead back to the top of the mountain. I was the poor American girl that everyone was fascinated by because they knew and hoped that my story would end in tragedy.

"Quint, I'm back!" I yelled through the hall. Unsurprisingly I got no answer. I took off my soaking shoes and stuffed my socks in them. I carried the groceries back to the kitchen. "Quint?"

He was staring out the window. He still hadn't heard me come back. I stopped to watch and listen. The way he held himself it was as if he was sad. I didn't hear him say anything so I silently closed the door and unpacked boxes and cans and stacked them neatly next to the makeshift counter.

"Can I ask how it was you came here? The Judge said you were exiled."

"That is correct. That was because I failed my mission. I came here by random chance and started on my mission again. You are living proof that I may still have a chance to wiggle my way back in."

I took one of the cans and opened it with the tab. The smell of sweet pear juice hit my nose as I ate one of the pears. "What happened with that robot thing? I mean what did I do?"

"You mean the sharkticon. It attacked you and you defended yourself. Apparently you also forced the door open because you knew there was a way to escape. You and I will continue to explore this new power of yours more before I call up one of my old subordinates. Eat up. It'll be a long day for you."

* * *

-February 21st…3 months later-

I kicked my foot back and forth while skimming through a newspaper that was only a week old. I still couldn't read Russian, let alone speak it, but I was already starting to get an idea of the topic each article provided. Quint had promised to get me a new newspaper that day, which I knew was really a lie. I sat on my bed, kicking one food and the other one was shackled to the bed as punishment for having a smart mouth. I didn't appreciate becoming something he could show off at anytime he wanted. I felt like some freak show at a circus. It was the first punishment in a long while. If I had talked back to him three months ago I would've had the harsh lesson learned through the taser-like shocks.

I ran my hand through my hair. It looked really weird now but the rate it was growing was way faster than it used to be. My pixie-like haircut was now about ear lobe length.

The door opened and closed. "I bet you're too emotionally invested again." This voice I didn't recognize so I kept my head buried in the newspaper.

"You will see." Quint muttered.

I put down the newspaper when they stopped talking. Next to Quint was a quintesson very similar to him. It had a big head and beady eyes but he had a long beard. What it was made of I wasn't sure but it didn't look like hair.

"This is my experimental pet." Quint introduced.

Remembering the harsh lessons on politeness on my part I bowed my head. One of the slimy tentacles jerked up my head, I assumed to check on my health. "She seems skinny." He muttered.

"It is a normal human weight." Quint reassured.

"Well, girl, let us see what you can do."

I cross my legs and took up the newspaper and started skimming it again. I still wasn't happy about becoming a freak show. The quintesson kept trying to get my attention but I only skimmed the newspaper.

"Human!"

I looked up and saw a knife. I instinctively jumped to my feet and as I did the quintesson scientist was pinned against the wall by an invisible hand, the knife stuck to the wall behind me. I continued to press him against the wall.

"Let him go!" Quint scolded.

I grumbled and relaxed and sat back down on the bed. Quint apologized several times about my behavior as he helped up the quintesson.

"You are too emotionally invested in this _thing._ "

I leaned forward.

"She knows no manners!" It turned on Quint. "You may have something successful but you have still failed!" At the door several metal beings, which Optimus called Executioners, walked through.

"She will learn!" Quint pleaded.

I frowned. I didn't understand why Quint was so afraid.

"Take him away." The quintesson ordered.

I stood and tried to run toward Quint but the shackle tripped me instead. I frowned and put my hands on the metal strapped around my ankle. The shackle came off with ease and I threw myself between the Executioners and Quint. My body pulsed with memories of Optimus Prime. I knew this could be the end for me.

"Get out of the way, human pet!" The quintesson shouted.

I shook my head. "You are hurting my friend and that is a manner I cannot overlook."

The quintesson seemed to be jumbling around with what to do. A judge snickered in the hall. The laughing evil voice was one I remembered well. "Friend. You call the exiled one your friend and yet even I can tell there you fear him."

I wanted him to be wrong. I wanted to yell and scream that he was wrong but he wasn't.

The Judge turned to Quint. "You have not failed in your mission. The manners are something this girl can learn."

My breath caught in my throat but I did my best to keep my fear at bay.

"Would you like to go home, Kathy Aragon?"

I stopped breathing altogether now. My hands shook by my side.

"You would, wouldn't you? And I see you have so many questions." The Judge threw down a knife.

The face changed to the wise one. "Just kill your master. Then nobody will stop you from going home."

I picked up the knife and looked at Quint. His face was full of fear. Is that the fear he had when he stepped into this unknown planet? I looked at the knife.

"Just one stab to the head." The Judge urged and came closer. "Through the center of the head."

I lifted the knife and stabbed the Judge just where he told me. "Run!" I told Quint as Executioners took this time to jump on me. On my back I struggled with their weight. They knocked the wind out of my chest and when they finally pinned my arms one of the sharp sword-like arms nicked my neck. The small trail of blood forced me to stop moving. Quint was nowhere in sight and the Judge was not only injured but by all means dead.

The other quintesson had no sympathy for the Judge. He was smirking either at the Judge's death or my capture or maybe both satisfied him. "We'll take her with us. If she resists kill her. I do not have time to have my hands full."

The Executioners pushed me onto my feet but the sharpness of the blade reminded me of my obedience. They pushed me into the hall and we walked toward the doors. I didn't expect Quint to save me.

One of the Executioners let me go and stopped at hearing a can be thrown down the hall. The rest of the Executioners stopped and it forced me to stop and look at what was holding us up. The only thing I was able to see was a light and I heard nothing. I was thrown out the door and hurled down the slope of the mountain.

A tree hit my back and my spine popped in many different places. I felt this odd release of pressure I didn't know was there. I felt nothing else for a few minutes. There was just the screeching in my ears and it took a few minutes for my eyes to adjust to the new sunlight. My leg felt like it was being burned. I couldn't smell anything.

Quint came into my sight. He looked frazzled but I couldn't hear why. I watched him pile snow on me but I didn't feel it and I couldn't tell where or why. I looked down at my legs and saw one of the pant legs were burnt off. The pain came over me and I felt myself scream.

I smelled the burning flesh slowly.

I heard Quint through the noise of the outside world. "You'll be fine. I'm so sorry. You'll be fine." He ran away.

Snow still covered the ground in a thick white sheet. The clouds made the sky dark but it made everything else seem so bright, too bright. The snow numbed my leg and I was able to look at it.

The fire from the explosion wrapped around my leg from my ankle to my knee. It looked almost whip-like, like it really had tried to wrap around me and pull me away from being tossed.

I screamed again. I screamed but I didn't know why.

Quint came back and covered me with the jacket. In his tentacle was a human first aid kit. I stopped screaming. My throat was raw. I barely felt the sting of the ointment he applied. He applied gauzed around the wound.

"It isn't that bad." He whispered. "Let's go before they find us."


	12. Bumblebee

"If you do not wait up I will turn back around to the last town we went around!" I threatened as I limped along.

Quint shrugged. "Okay."

The sun was almost gone. The temperature must've dropped three or four degrees by now!

I rubbed my arms while I limped alongside him. The cold numbed the pain but I was still trying to go easy on it.

"You're lost aren't you?" I grumbled.

"I've lived here for centuries! I watched this country form! I've walked these paths a million times!"

"Maybe in World War One," I snorted. "But you haven't been out since then!"

We were following his version of a trail, which had orange tape around every sixth tree. Finally he stopped. "What?" I folded my arms.

He was looking at a spot on the ground. "This is where I found you." He said.

I looked over to the lights that just started to appear below. The lights I followed the year before. "I know where to go," I said and started up the mountain.

"Where are you going?" He scolded. "Our hiding place is-"

I turned on him. "I will die out here if we walk any longer! I am from California not Antarctica! We are going to stay inside tonight!" Without warning I turned back around and walked up the mountain. I felt a little regret at yelling at him and was surprised that there were no shocks, nothing to punish my sudden outburst. Quint stayed silent as he followed.

After what felt like half an hour we came across familiar doors. They were open to let snow inside. That fact made me uneasy. I half wobbled half ran inside and looked around starting with the living room styled area. "Elsa? Ky?" I yelled. My voice echoed throughout the library.

"The Hall of Records…" Quint exhaled out the word and ran his tentacles along the spine of each leather bound book. "This place is supposed to be a myth. Every piece of recorded history is here. Past. Present. Future. I can't believe I didn't know you knew its location sooner."

I turned to him as if I didn't hear him. "Quint, help me find them!" I whined.

"Hold on. Here, found it." He plucked a book from the shelf.

I rolled my eyes and walked around calling for my Aunt and Uncle. My voice only echoed in the room. I sighed. "I hope they're okay." In the farthest corner of the library there was a dark corner. I could barely make out a glimpse of something shiny but with the sun gone and the moon being my only light through the clouds that thinned out slowly it was hard to tell what was there. There were no lights here either.

I walked to the fireplace and got on my knees to looked for anything that could be used to light it.

The cock of a very big gun stopped me. "Don't move," this voice used the radio to help speak but the kind of voice he had was still prominent. It sounded like a teenager and it reminded me of Alexander. Vague memories of when he held a gun to my head flashed before my mind. If I listened to my gut…maybe he was like Alexander but I was also unsure of the fact. Nothing with a conscious would ever want to hurt an innocent creature…right?

Slowly I raised my arms. "Look, we're cool. I just came in for some warmth and in the morning I'll be leaving."

"How do you know Elsa?" He sounded angry.

"Elsa Fischer? She's a…a friend of mine." I half lied and turned my head around to see it from the corner of my eye. I could barely make out an insignia and by it's defiant curves he must've been an autobot but then again most of it was hidden so it could've also been a decepticon. "I met her a year ago and warned her of danger. How do you know Elsa?"

The gun slowly came away and I turned to him with my hands lowered. He was yellow with stripes here and there. "I'm her friend too."

I squinted my eyes at him. "Are you an Autobot? Are you with Optimus Prime?"

He sat on the ground, careful not to destroy the couches. "Used to be until he started working with the government. I bolted after that." Behind him Quint hid among the bookshelves, trying desperately to dart away but he seemed torn about leaving me behind. In theory I was still his only ticket home, or his only ticket to getting revenge.

"Like Crosshairs. What are you doing here?"

He looked disturbed and he looked like he didn't trust me still.

"I'm Kathy," I tried slowly.

"Bumblebee." He said simply.

"Bee, please tell me why you are here."

His expression changed slowly but he still looked saddened. The radio tuned itself until he found the station he needed. _"Bee? Are you there?"_ It was Elsa's voice. The background sounded chaotic. _"They found me, Bee, and they're coming after you and Optimus. You have to…"_ There was screaming and static.

It felt like the oxygen had been sucked out of the room. "They found her…" The air grew colder but I don't think I noticed.

I started to look for anything to start a fire again while I blinked back tears. "Here," Bumblebee leaned forward and scraped his finger along the chimney until the sparks caught on the dampened branches.

With light and warmth the room should've felt less like an icebox. The light showed me where Quint was. He was hiding behind a couch. "You!" I growled and stomped over to him. He jumped and the shocks went through me as soon as I touched him.

I jumped back onto my butt.

Bee went on the attack. "Stop!" I threw my hands up and he stopped suddenly as if he ran into a wall.

"What the hell?" He yelled as he rubbed his cheek. "What the hell are you?"

I gulped and played with my fingers but then ignored the question and turned to Quint. "This is your fault!" I screamed. "They're gone because of you!"

"So that I could create you. You had no connection to this Elsa."

"She's my Aunt!" I screamed at him. I felt sick. "My mama…" What will she think when I tell her? This made me sicker. "Alexander…" What will he think? I picked up a stick and threw it at him but I missed. I hated him again. I hated that he knew I couldn't hurt him. I hated that he knew I would never betray him.

"I will hide. I will find you in time." Quint started out the door.

Bee didn't know whether to stay with me or go after him. "Elsa…" I sniffed and rubbed my eyes. "I'm far from home." I just wanted to talk now. I didn't know what else to do.


	13. Hardly a Team

Bumblebee was still with me by the next morning. His hand pressed me to his chest protectively. I was surprised he didn't squish me.

I slowly wiggled from his grasp and slid down to the ground and stumbled forward so I wouldn't fall. He was a bit taller than I thought.

While waiting for Bee to wake up I decided to browse the library-like hall, skimming the books with my hands. Carved on the sides were signs in another language that I wasn't familiar with. My hands found a book at random and plucked it off the shelf and I carefully opened it.

The pages in this book were relatively new but it was all written in a language I didn't understand. Annoyed, I put the book back and looked all around. "The Hall of Records," I whispered.

Bee turned over on his side. Whatever he was dreaming about suddenly made him restless.

Whenever I was restless Alexander would come into my room and calm me by talking to me softly. Sometimes he sang, especially when I was younger. What do they dream about? Do they dream about their home? Where do they come from?

I walked into the cold. The sun made everything brighter and I couldn't see the sky.

Bumblebee woke up near noon. He walked outside and stretched with me near his feet. "Where to, kid?"

"Wherever Optimus Prime is."

He shook his head. "Nope, try a different location."

I huffed. "Why not?" I demanded.

"Because you're a human. You'll get hurt too easily."

"But Elsa-"

"Was different," his voice changed. He looked into the distance like he was watching a memory pass us. "She had me." Whatever memory Bee was watching he tore himself away to look at me. "Who do you have?"

"You don't count?"

Bee only stared.

I looked around us. The snow covered everything except the trees and a cluster of boulders. I lifted up my hands and remembered what I learned about my powers.

* * *

 _Quint had an army of sharkticons that he could easily rebuild. I learned quickly that if I didn't destroy them Quint had no problems allowing them to kill me._

 _"How are you doing it?" He demanded one day while we were in the kitchen. He refused to give me food unless I showed him my powers again. I hadn't eaten in a few days._

 _"I don't know!" I screamed back at him. This earned me a good shock. "I don't know." I repeated a little nicer._

 _"What goes on in your head when you are attacked?"_

 _I shrugged. "Just that I want them gone. I think about how I wish I could just…fling them against the wall."_

 _"Then think about moving this fruit you humans call an apple into your hand. Or maybe you aren't hungry enough."_

* * *

Today I was moving a boulder. It strained my mind and I struggled to get it off the ground and keep it off the ground. Finally I lifted my hands over my head and brought it down as if I was bringing down a hammer. The boulder flung past me to Bumblebee. He stared at disbelief at the boulder.

"Last night you…"

"I stopped you last night. I am more than capable of fighting whatever it is we're up against. Now you are taking me to Optimus Prime!"

* * *

Kyoto, Japan was absolutely breathtaking. Even in my adrenaline, and depressed state I was taken aback and calmed by Japan's beauty.

"What is he doing here?" I asked while Bee drove through the outskirts near the most rural areas.

"I don't know."

At the base of a mountain Optimus Prime waited with Crosshairs and even Jeremy. Before Bee could come to a stop I hopped out. Jeremy could only stare at me with wide eyes but for a moment I thought he was staring at Bee.

"You're alive!" Crosshairs greeted but I couldn't tell if he was greeting me or Bee or both. He plucked me from the ground so I could meet him at eye level. "Where have you been?"

"Russia. It's a long story, Crosshairs."

Bee, now standing next to Optimus, half whispered, "I have some bad news. Elsa is…"

Optimus nodded. "I am well aware."

Crosshairs set me down next to Jeremy.

"Also there's something else you should be aware of." Bee's eyes shifted over to me. Optimus followed his gaze.

Jeremy couldn't speak. Was he really that much in shock?

"Well? Show them," Bee encouraged.

"Don't freak out," I told all of them. "I'm tired of everyone freaking out about this." I looked for something, anything big enough to throw. Japan was a beautiful place but it lacked in boulders. Finally I found a rotting old post, already halfway lifted from the ground by the latest earthquake.

I lifted one of my hands and concentrated on it.

* * *

 _I remembered once hearing a voice say to me, "My girl, this should never have happened to you. " But when I woke up Quint was there and he was saying something different. "My pet, this will be the best thing that has happened to you."_

* * *

The post came up with ease and I threw it at Optimus, past his head, and it stuck to the face of the mountain.

Crosshairs and Jeremy stared with their mouths gapped. Bumblebee looked at Optimus who had a cool mask but in his eyes I could see the panic.

"I was kidnapped by the quintesson Judge who sold me out to a quintesson scientist," I explained quickly. "In return he told the Judge everything he wanted to know about Elsa Fischer. This," I pointed at the post, "is due to three months of torture."

Optimus solemnly nodded. "I am sorry we could not be there for you." He half whispered.

"I don't mind. I can finally be useful to you now. I won't get injured very much, Optimus, I promise," I tried to come up with any objection and any comeback to those objections because fighting would only waste time.

To my surprise he nodded. "Very well."

I looked at Jeremy.

"What?" He half snapped.

"Are you helping out too?"

He nodded. "Of course. That's the only reason why I'm here."

Crosshairs nodded. "Splendid. What's the plan then?"

All eyes were on Optimus Prime who looked deep in thought himself. He looked to the skies for answers. Something weighed on his mind.

"Optimus, in the three months that I was gone what happened?" I asked.

He still looked to the sky, his eyes looked distant while he answered, "The first week you were gone I never saw Alisha or Alexander. They never left the house. Soon, I took Alexander to the Hall of Records hoping he could find answers but he found none. Last week the quintessons' ship appeared over a city you call Los Angeles and they sent me a message that if I didn't surrender myself Elsa would die."

I gave him a questioning look but Bumblebee butt into the story, "Crosshairs wouldn't let him do that."

"Why would I? He's our leader. Without him we're nothing."

"You guys haven't worked together in, like, sixteen years, Crosshairs. You guys are hardly a team." My comment earned me a steely glare.

Optimus finally turned back toward us. "We shall send them a message of our own." He looked at me and then at Bumblebee. "You two shall work together to find Elsa on their ship."

Crosshairs half jumped and raised his hand. "And what should I do?"

Optimus looked him over once. "You and Jeremy will stay with the Aragon family. Make sure no harm comes to them."

I smiled while Crosshairs and Jeremy complained.

In my side I could feel the smallest of shocks. Instinctively I looked around for the answer but nobody was around. Maybe I should tell Optimus Jeremy should go in my stead. Maybe it won't bother me while I'm on the ship.


	14. Ghosts of Creations Past

I couldn't sleep. I could still feel the ghostly shocks throughout my body. I felt like I should be alert, like Quint would pop out of nowhere and demand that I come back. Each time this scenario popped into my head I knew I would willingly go with him. For a second back there I thought I saw the slightest bit of friendship but in the Hall I saw a master giving orders to a servant and as much as I wanted to I couldn't bring myself to feel mad or hateful about it. How could a strong-willed person go from disobeying their mother to being completely obedient to complete strangers?

The stars held no answers except for a streak of light, which went from one to hundreds. I'd never actually seen shooting stars before. How many people were wishing on them knowing that their wishes would never come true?

I finally sat up and checked on the wound I once had. There was only the faintest scar to remind me of the shocks I'll endure.

What if my own family was in danger? Could I put my life on the line for them? Wasn't this mission already proving that I would?

Optimus slept almost too soundly for someone who could lose a friend soon. Bumblebee snored next to Crosshairs and Crosshairs turned restlessly in his sleep. Jeremy was next to me, deep in sleep. The red and orange ombre coloring was halfway faded. Good. I hated that color of his hair.

I looked back up to the stars and took in a deep breath of the fresh air I missed so much.

* * *

Bee and I sat on a building for a long time. Now back home in America I felt…strange. I didn't feel like I was home with this amazing space ship overhead. It was long and looked almost armored.

The night before we went over the plan a million times. Optimus would turn himself in and when the ship was lowered enough me and Bee would jump in. We have only ten minutes to get in and get out. After that a bomb that Optimus will plant in the side of the ship will go off and if we couldn't save Elsa by then…then she would most definitely die by Optimus's hands.

"Almost time," Bee told me.

I nodded. "Almost time." I repeated to myself. "We'll get rid of them…"

 _"They will always rebuild…"_

I looked around. The voice was wise, one I could've sworn I heard before.

Bee stared at me, a little worried.

"I'm fine," I whispered and watched the ship start its descent. It was coming near us. Bee picked me up and put me on his shoulder.

"Hold on tight," he reminded me.

"Hold on to what?" But my words reached his ears too late. I did my best to balance myself while he ran at the ship and jumped. I wasn't sure what he was reaching for so I closed my eyes and hoped we didn't fall.

His body jerked and threw me off his shoulder. I wanted to scream but none came out. My mouth was open, I was ready, but all that came out was a rushing of air from my lungs.

His hand caught my leg before I could get too far out of reach and he pulled me to his chest. My breathing was hard and I finally opened my eyes as he pulled himself in. It was the smallest of openings but Bee could barely fit easily with me at his chest. His hand protected me from any harm that would've come until we followed the niche into an emptied hallway.

"Which way first?" I half whispered.

As if to answer my question a scream echoed in the hallway. We looked at each other and Bee followed it. One hallway led into another, right into a group of quintesson scientists. They looked very similar to Quint and one of them I remembered.

"Oh crap," was the only thing I could say.

"Get the Executioners!" One of them said.

Bumblebee set me on the floor and got ready to shoot anything that attacked. Before the Executioners could come I charged through the scientists and turned the next immediate right I found.

"Don't just stand there!" The voice was drowned out by the firing of alien-like guns.

"Elsa!" I yelled and waited for someone to answer back. "Elsa!"

"Dumbass!"

I followed the voice at a full running speed and stopped at an intersection that looked very unique. To my left was a huge door and to my right the halls were lined with doors. Something about the big door piqued my interest and so I went to it and gave it the lightest of pushes. It swung open under my touch.

Elsa Fischer stood with her hands in front of her, bravely staring down one of the Judges. "You're savoring it, aren't you?" She demanded. "You want to make sure Prime sees this too. You want to see him suffer but you won't see much suffering. You'll wake a beast you don't want awakened. It isn't just him you need to fear."

"We are not afraid of the other two." The laughing voice said.

Elsa shook her head. "It's a dumbass human you need to worry about. She will tear you apart when I'm dead."

It laughed. "How do you know this?" It sounded amused.

"Because she's my niece. It sort of runs in the family."

She was nudged forward by something I didn't see. Elsa turned her head as she fell through the hole but I raced forward, pushed by some new force and I reached in and grabbed her arm. Her weight nearly pulled me in with her but I held steady.

"Hang on, I've got you." I struggled to pull her up. I couldn't do this with one hand but if I let go I might fall in with her. Below her were mechanical piranhas, which bit the air with anticipation for their next meal.

"You are a dumbass!" She yelled up at me.

"Stop her!" The judge ordered. There was nothing I could do.

 _"Stay strong,"_ the voice echoed. _"Don't move."_

I could feel the first round of shocks start but I didn't let go.

"Stay down!" Bee's gun fired three shots in all.

"Bee!" Elsa's smile brought out the wrinkles in her face. He picked me up and took Elsa in his other hand, allowing me to sit back. Tears were brought to Elsa's eyes.

"I wish your reunion was a bit more…well quiet," I said sheepishly.

She shook her head. "No, I wouldn't want this any other way. It's just like old times."

The ship jerked to the side as an explosion rang out. "I think they have Optimus," I told Bee.

He nodded. "Time to go."

Bee followed the hall back to the niche, picking through the confused quintesson creatures under his feet. More explosions came from behind us.

A second shock was sent through my body, worst than the first. I bit my tongue against screaming. Halfway through the niche it stopped abruptly, leaving me sick and numb. I couldn't catch my breath like I'd been running for a few minutes.

"Are you okay?" Elsa asked.

I nodded.

She narrowed her eyes. "You're lying to me. I hate being lied to."

The explosions were coming closer.

"Bee can't you move it?" Elsa yelled.

"I'm going as fast as I can."

I watched the area behind us. Fire shot through the hallway and found the niche. Bee pushed off with his foot just before it could reach us. I regretted turning to look below. There was nothing to catch us.

I instinctively screamed. He threw me into the air and caught the edge of the closest roof with his free hand and caught me in his other hand as I came back down and he held me and Elsa protectively against his chest.

The ship went down like a popped balloon. "Where's Optimus?" I whispered, expecting to have seen him by now.

A shadow towered over us and pulled Bee up to the roof. Optimus nodded and pat Bee on the shoulder.

"So that's it?" Bee set us on the ground as I asked.

Optimus nodded.

I smiled brightly. "That…was a lot of fun," I admitted with a laugh.

"Welcome to the club, Kid," Elsa smiled and pat me on the back.

I crinkled my eyebrows at her. "What club?"

"You are now a soldier. I didn't believe it at first either. I was about eighteen years old when I met Bumblebee but once you're in it the only thing that brings you out is death. Are you prepared to die young for these aliens?" She gave me a serious look.

I didn't need to think about the answer, "Yeah. I like them well enough." I grinned mostly to myself but it quickly disappeared.

"Kathy?" Elsa's touch felt like it burned.

I was still so numb from the second shocks I didn't feel the third set. My legs stopped working and I fell. I probably would've fallen off the building if Optimus hadn't caught me first.

"Something's wrong with her." I barely heard Elsa.

A scream came out from me. It was a blood-curdling scream that would've come out of a horror movie. A scream I was deaf to until I finally went limp.


	15. No Answers

"She's suffered sever shocks…" The voice was frantic. My eyes barely fluttered open and all I could see was a blinding light before they fluttered close again. "Was she hit by lightening? I don't know. No, that's not what was reported." These voices were all distinctly different but for now they sounded like they came from the same person. My eyes fluttered opened again into the eyes of an older man I saw once a long time ago. So long ago that it felt like a dream.

"Whitwicky!" An explosion sent my body skidding to the floor and with someone on top of me.

"Is the patient okay?"

My eyes fluttered close again. I tried to hang on, though, to even just a thread of reality but my grip on it was too weak and I felt like I was freefalling.

 _I moved boulders with my mind. I could jump off a cliff and fly to the next one. I felt weightless as I moved. The grass was never crushed underneath my feet. Whenever I jumped they popped right back up._

 _"This was never supposed to be…" I turned around and behind me was a landscape of metal. Nothing grew. There was only one form of life. I would've run to hide if I wasn't drawn to its voice. "They were never supposed to have done this to humans or to anybody else."_

 _"Who are you?" I breathed out the question but I don't think he heard it._

 _"They were supposed to be docile creatures. They were supposed to mimic the Primes. They were going to be noble, brave, have the endurance of a cheetah and the strength of an ox!" It shook his head and slumped in a chair made of metal spikes. "But instead they were smart and sly and because of that gift I doomed your fate. Alpha Trion warned me not to but I didn't listen to our oracle."_

 _"Who are you?" I yelled a little louder._

 _There was a gust of wind but where it came from was a mystery. It carried a hint of a voice that cried out my name. I couldn't tell who the voice belonged to, though._

 _"Go back home." The quintesson-like creature urged. "We shall talk more soon."_

My eyes had a hard time opening like there were weights attached to the lids. I closed them again and tried harder to open them.

Jeremy's hand was on top of mine, his forehead rested against the side of the hospital bed. Through a window I could see Alexander talking to an older man I'd seen long ago. He held a cup in his hand but his face scrunched up when he took a sip. I wanted to laugh but didn't have the energy.

My eyelids drooped close as if by their own will. When I opened them again Jeremy was pacing the hallway while a nurse scribbled down something on the clipboard at the end of my bed. When he saw I was awake he smiled and walked out of the room and announced that I was awake.

Alexander and Jeremy nearly fought for the small space the door had to provide as they rushed in. They started asking me a million questions, none of which I processed.

When they finally realized I wasn't answering they calmed down and waited for me to answer all of their questions.

"I'm thirsty," I croaked.

Alexander sighed dramatically and poured water from the pitcher on a tray next to my bed. I sipped it through the straw. "Where were you this whole time?" He finally demanded.

"Russia," I said through sips. When it was gone I handed the cup back to him. He poured me more water.

"What were you doing there?" Jeremy pulled up a chair and sat on the other side of the bed.

I thought back through all of the events but my mind was a blur. "I don't know. I just…what happened?"

They looked at each other then looked at me.

"The day I came to the hospital, guys."

"Kathy, you've been in this hospital for only a few days." Alexander sat on the edge of the bed. "You've been away from us for nearly four months." His tone was light but I caught glimpses of a demand for answers. "You've been stable but the doctors said you transferred from a different hospital before some complication arose. I don't remember the whole story."

"Basically, I don't get to demand answers." I set the glass down on the table next to the bed.

He rolled his eyes. "I never said that."

"You were leading up to it." I folded my arms but they flopped lazily into my lap. I sighed. "I don't understand what happened, Alexander. All I know is I was able to get away and I found friends and…Well Jeremy was there for some of it."

Alexander nodded. "We know about everything else. The suicidal mission and all but we don't know anything before or after."

"And I'll tell you all of this after I sleep. I just want to sleep."

He looked at Jeremy with an exasperated look. Jeremy sighed. "I told you, dude. With what the doctor said she'll be fatigued for a long time. It'll take her a while to recover her energy."

I barely heard a word of what was said after. I closed my eyes again.

The feel of my own clothes felt familiar and normal. I stood looking down at myself, with my shirt off, examining the scars from doctors and Quint. My hand came across the faint pink lines that started from my side to my stomach. According to the doctor they removed several pieces of a broken chip. The chip, they suspected, malfunctioned and that's what caused it to continuously shock me.

"How did it break?" I had asked.

"It could've just exploded on itself. We don't really know. This phenomenon is…something we've never seen before." The doctor had answered.

I had

The TV in my room was muted but I read the closed captioning that was provided. Throughout the day there were several stories about a hospital that was attacked but by whom nobody knew for sure. For now, though, everyone blamed terrorists. It made me think back to that man I barely saw.

I threw on my shirt and opened the door.

A young man in a suit talked casually with one of the nurses. I recognized him as the one from the gas station. "Whitwicky?"

He turned his head toward me and then turned back to the nurse. "That's it then?"

"Yeah, she's good to leave anytime."

Whitwicky turned on his heels and motioned for me to follow him out. He walked too quickly and I had a hard time catching up. "Whitwicky! What are you doing here?" I yelled as I half ran through the halls.

"Taking you home." The elevator doors opened almost immediately after he pushed the button to go down. The doors closed just as quickly behind us too.

"Where's mama? And Alexander?"

He rubbed the back of his neck. "You've been out of the loop, haven't you?"

I slammed my hand on the emergency stop button. The elevator stopped abruptly. "I'm tired of people not giving me answers, Whitwicky! I've been missing for 3 months. I've been here for about a week and a half. Do you think I've been filled in on everything? What the hell is going on?"

Something in his face changed. He bobbed his head in a nod and said solemnly, "When you went missing everybody assumed you had ran off. Nobody tried looking for you. By the time your case finally reached my ears you were on a stupid-ass-suicide mission with Optimus and Bumblebee. Optimus called me when you passed out. The hospital was attacked by something called Executioners, I think."

I nodded. "I woke up briefly. I saw you."

He nodded. "We had to get you to another hospital. The attack is still being investigated and covered up." Whitwicky pressed the button and the elevator started again. "Alisha and Alexander have been under our watch since the incident because these…things weren't going after doctors. They were going after you and the autobots."

The doors opened and we stepped off. The floor of the hospital was empty and quiet except for a few doctors and nurses that half jogged past us. Outside the parking lot was only half filled up with cars and Optimus waited for us in the front. Crosshairs was behind him.

"Can you get up in Optimus?" Whitwicky asked.

I shook my head before I could try. "I'll ride with Crosshairs." The door opened and I stepped into the driver's side.

"It's good to see you back on your feet," he greeted.

On the steering wheel was the autobot insignia. I smiled and ran my fingers across it, barely touching it. "I've missed you all," I whispered. An overwhelming amount of emotions came across my mind and came out in tears. My shoulders shook and I smiled and leaned my forehead against the steering wheel.

"We've missed you too," he said in a whisper.

I smiled. I felt like I was already home. I really missed being home.


	16. New Life

I sat on the blood red couch and I stared into the depths of the color. All that I could think of were the events leading up to this moment. The night terrors, attacking Alexander and once even Jeremy, paranoia, sleeping with the lights on, lack of sleep, everything that built upon this moment happened in a matter of three months. The three-month nightmare ended nearly six months ago. Summer was almost over and if I couldn't find a new normal soon I would be forced to spend my junior year under the watchful eyes of Whitwicky and Optimus.

"Miss Aragon," The soft voice of my shrink cut through the memories.

"What?" I looked up at her. She was a blonde woman with a very thick French accent.

"I asked you how the last week has been. Did you do everything we talked about?"

I shrugged. "I guess." I looked back at the cushion and ran my hand along it.

"It's a yes or no answer, Kathy."

Finally I shook my head.

"You know that if you aren't cleared you'll be forced to move to Quantico, correct?"

I nodded.

She sighed and moved only slightly forward but her back still looked straight as a pole. "You have a little PTSD, Kathy. These feelings will never truly go away but they can be managed if you try to manage it. Right now you don't seem to want to manage it. Why is that?" She paused to let me answer but she got nothing. "Have you given up on your life already?" She watched me closely and looked back through her notes. "Kathy, you are no longer under anybody's control. You are free. You have free will. You do understand that, don't you?"

"Yes, I understand that. That isn't why I've given up." My voice sounded distant.

"It's the trauma of going from a normal girl to-"

"To a freaky, scientific experiment for some alien. I'm…scared. I don't know what to do with it. I don't want it anymore." There were no tears even though my voice broke as if I was going to sob.

"Then let's try this one more time; I want you to go up to the mountains, somewhere away from civilization, and use it however you like. Destroy boulders. Create something in the dirt. Fight off bears. Take a chaperone with you and I'll make sure Whitwicky knows your homework so he can keep you accountable."

I nodded.

Mama drove me home afterwards. Like always we were quiet for half of the ride.

"So, what did you two talk about," she finally asked.

I shrugged. "Same stuff. It was just about things that trouble me and how to cope with PTSD. Nothing new."

She frowned but I ignored it. "Honey, you can tell me what happened to you when you were gone."

"I know," I whispered. I think she knew I would never tell her. I didn't want to remember it myself.

When we pulled into the driveway I walked up the stairs to my room.

"Hey," Alexander's voice stopped me from pushing the door open. He stood at the stairs. I didn't even hear him behind me. "Aunt Alisha seems upset. What did you say to her?"

I shook my head. "Nothing. Just like last week and just like the week before."

His cheeks puffed out. "You can't just stay quiet about this forever. Keeping it all bottled up like that isn't healthy."

Who was he to criticize me on "healthy"? Wasn't he the one who ran away in the first place?

"I'm talking to my shrink. I'm doing every damn thing she tells me. I'm being watched by every damn FBI agent and I'm doing my damn school work so I don't get left behind because I decided to follow you halfway around the country! I'm doing everything I need to do to be healthy, Alexander!"

He folded his arms and nodded toward my room. "I bet you last nights dinner is still sitting on your desk."

I huffed. "What's your point?"

"You aren't eating. You aren't healthy so whatever you think you're doing to cope isn't working."

I shook my head. "Aren't you supposed to be going somewhere with Elsa and Ky?"

"You're dodging again." He took the steps by two back down the stairs and I walked inside my room. He was right about one thing; my food was still sitting on my desk. I threw it in the trashcan plate and all.

My phone buzzed quietly. I answered on the third round of buzzes. "What?"

Whitwicky's voice was on the other end, "When did you want to go?"

I sighed and sat on my bed. "Never."

The line was quiet.

"We can go tonight and get it over with." I whispered finally.

Crosshairs insisted on coming with me over Optimus, claiming he had some steam he needed to blow off as well. I sat in the passenger's seat, tracing patterns on my new jeans. The one thing I liked about Crosshairs was that he didn't ask me what happened. He just let me blow off some steam and he would join me.

Once we got up the mountain he stretched out like he'd been cramped up like I have for the past few hours. Up here Whitwicky had his own cabin that he allowed me to stay in and there was enough open area and loose rocks and trunks that we could go crazy with.

The horizon was painted with pinks and burnt oranges and slowly receded into a velvety blue-black.

 _"I genuinely hope you enjoyed your time outside because that will be the last time you escape me."_ Quint's words echoed in my head. _"What you have running through your body is a small device that will continuously shock you if you try to run away or disobey me. I told you already that you will not escape me. You can't."_

"Kathy?"

I looked up at Crosshairs. I'd almost forgotten where I really was.

"What are you thinking about? Usually when we get up here you have no problems starting almost right away."

I wiped my eyes. "Nothing." I kept thinking about Quint and all the times he lied to me and all the times I felt sympathy for him. I lifted up my right hand and the trunk of a fallen tree lifted seamlessly into the air. This new power was getting easier and easier to understand and control. The heavier objects were starting to become easier to manipulate.

There was a burning in my chest like an anger I never knew was there until I could finally release it. Crosshairs shot the trunk, scattering bits of the bark and splitting it in two. I picked up another tree trunk and threw that too.

The release of energy helped the anger to release too. I couldn't help but smile each time the tree was shot at and I smiled more when I threw another trunk or boulder or some big heavy object. Crosshairs seemed to enjoy the same release because he would hoot and holler with every shot.

I couldn't help but laugh finally. I laughed so hard I had to stop to try and catch my breath. My laughs soon turned into sobs. I hadn't laughed in so long. I hadn't felt like myself for so long.

Crosshairs gently picked me up and sat on the dirt floor and waited for me patiently to stop.

I continued to cry for hours. The stars were so bright by the time I stopped. I sat on his shoulder while looking up at the stars.

"Do you ever miss your home, Crosshairs?"

Crosshairs shrugged. "I guess sometimes but there isn't much to remember about it. It was nothing like this place."

"Do you consider earth your home?"

After a long while he nodded. "Yeah. I guess I do."

There was another long pause. "During the three months I was in Russia I missed home all the time. I tried not to think about it too much, though. There were other things I had to worry about more like those shocks," my hand rested on the scar on my side, "and I had to worry about what we were doing the next day and if I'd finally jump off the mountain. If today he would be kind or angry. If he'd let me go into town for food and clothes." Memories of the events flashed like a movie. "If he had an animal or if what I heard was another human." I whispered the words like a secret.

"So why didn't you jump off that mountain, then?"

"I was afraid to leave. I was afraid that if the fall didn't kill me the shocks would and then I was scared that there would be an opportunity to run that I would miss."

He nodded. "I'm glad you didn't." There was a smile to his voice that made me smile too.

"Please don't tell the others. I'm not ready for anybody to know. I guess telling Optimus and Bee is okay, though."

Crosshairs nodded again but stayed silent. I wondered if keeping secrets was painful for him.

We stayed up most of the night, watching the stars pass us by. I wondered which star Cybertron was drawn toward. I wondered if someday they would want to go home. Would they even have a home to go to? I was glad that they were here because if they weren't then my life would be just another boring life.


	17. Horrifyingly Normal Day

Things floated around the room and placed themselves in the spot I designated. Each item had a new spot to call home and I didn't have to get up and spend hours moving everything. I could sit on my bed and move it all myself.

"Kathy!"

I jumped at mama's voice at the doorway and lost concentration on the items still in midair and they dropped to the floor. "What?"

"You know not to do that in the house," mama scolded.

I rolled my eyes. "Look, my room is clean like you wanted. Why does the method matter?"

She stared me down.

I sighed, stood, and picked up everything. "Fine, I'll do it the hard way."

"I thought you didn't even like this power."

I put away the figurines Elsa bought me whenever she went somewhere new. Now that she wasn't holed up in the Hall of Records she spent her time with Optimus Prime and the Russian military, serving as the Alien Military Expert. She gave me figurines of girls wearing some form of traditional dress from around the world. I had France, a Chinese empress, Poland, and Germany. "My shrink told me if I used it more often throughout the house that I would get used to it by the time school started and I would feel normal again. So, I got used to it," I lied.

If mama saw my lie she never said anything more about it. She did sigh and shake her head. "Is Crosshairs taking you to school?"

I shook my head. "Crosshairs is too attached to Jeremy to leave him at the University. Bee is."

There was a small smile to Alisha's lips. "Elsa and Bee were attached too. I'm surprised he's not with her."

I shrugged. "The autobots are kind of split up, mama. Half wants to work with the military but the other half has lost their faith in most of humanity. It…kind of sucks after watching all of this footage," I showed her on my laptop a compilation I put together of each and every event from Chicago in 2006 to Galvatron and Alpha Trion in 2016. "These aren't all of them, obviously, but my point is that this setup kind of sucks. So when Elsa decided she wanted to work with the Russians Bee decided to go on his own. I convinced him to at least be my ride. This way neither of us are alone." I shut my laptop.

Mama frowned, "You and Jeremy still not talking?"

I shook my head. As soon as he and Alexander graduated they took off. Jeremy went north to go to school while Alexander went westward to be with Elsa. The house felt empty without them. Hopefully dad could be home soon but mama said he needed to stay a little longer in Egypt. "I don't want anything to do with him." I wiped my eyes quickly before she could see and grabbed my bag. "Gotta run. Senior year and all I'm sure I'll have a lot of homework." I ran downstairs before she could stop me.

Bee waited patiently outside when I stepped out. Besides his boyish style he pretty much blended in with our cars. For some reason it always surprised me again when I stepped into the car and the insignia carved into the steering wheel seemed to burst out.

"Alright, Bee, do you remember where the school is?"

He remembered exactly where it was and where to drop me off.

School felt like a foreign thing. There were teens in a large circle, kicking a hackey sack around on the lawn. The varsity football team-mostly made up of seniors now-practiced throwing footballs in the area that would soon be where I would have lunch outside of the cafeteria. Teenagers walked in groups and some freshman looked around nervously, their heads popping up and down from behind pieces of paper that would serve as this semester's school schedule. Some of the teens disappeared behind the theater room with tired stars in their eyes and soon would pop back out with a glazed over look. Everyone traveled in pairs or groups except for me, new students, and a few misfits. However, even the misfits were easily able to join cliques. I couldn't bring myself to even approach one. Despite being here for the fourth year everyone suddenly felt like a stranger.

Happy squeals and soon someone pounced on me on the way toward aimlessly walking nowehere. I recognized the face of the girl that suddenly stood beside me now. Lisa had been my best friend since middle school. Unlike me, though, she had many best friends while she and Alexander were my only best friends at the time.

Lisa had a natural beauty, one that you could tell would fade very quickly the older she got. She had this beautiful, flawless looking dark skin and very dark hair. What made her especially unique and beautiful was the fact that she had these bright blue-green eyes. She claimed that it came from a great-great grandfather dating back to when slavery still existed. Her grandmother's master often kept the beautiful women in the house for a reason and so he fathered many, many, many children. How many famiy members she actually had because of one man was still unknown but soon it would be nothing but a bad fairy tale.

"Oh my goodness, look at you! What are you wearing?" Her face distorted in disgust as she took in my dress. I wore a plain black tee that had obviously been stolen from Alexander's room, and pants that were obviously not skinny jeans nor were they leggings made to look like denim.

"My clothes got torn over the summer so I had to borrow Alex's shirt. Why? Does it look funny?"

Lisa rolled her beautiful sky blue eyes. Why couldn't I have blue eyes? They were much prettier than brown eyes. "Yes, dear, they look funny. You used to be so cute! What happened?"

 _What happened?_ The thought held so much malice and I felt myself glaring at her before I could stop it. _Well, my cousin ran away, I chased after him and got kidnapped three times and I was attacked, like, twice! I was missing for four months but did you ever stop to ask why? No! Then I was out of school for another month and you still didn't notice! Now I have this weird super power and I'm somehow, in the middle of all of this, in the middle of Russia, I was supposed to have somehow taken the time to look at myself and say, "Oh, do I look cute today?_ Instead I said, "Turns out depression runs in my family."

She looked taken aback. "O-oh, sorry, I didn't know."

 _No, of course not._ I was relieved when the bell rang for the start of the long, horrendous day.

Lunch felt just as foreign as my classes. I didn't realize how behind I was in math until I realized halfway through that I didn't remember learning a single thing from Calculus I. This was Calculus II! How am I going to make it to graduation?

I sighed and put my forehead down on the table in front of me.

"Are you alright?" Lisa asked.

"No, I don't remember a single thing from last year. I don't know how I'll make it."

"Cheer up, doll. How about thinking about your cousin's friend, huh? I heard you and him got pretty friendly this summer." Lisa nudged my ribs and I sat up.

"Where did you hear that?" I demanded.

She spoke while shoving a fry in her mouth. "It was the talk of the school. Don't you go on social media? Everyone was talking about seeing you two in that diner and then at the motel."

"In North Dakota?" I screamed out and clasped my hands over my mouth.

She gasped, "So it's true? You have got to tell me the details."

My mind went over the events. How Jeremy flirted with that waitress and how I had reacted and when I kicked him. My face flushed but it disappeared with the thought of our fight and how he punched Optimus when he wanted to punch me. "There's nothing to tell! He was being a jerk, that's it."

"Then what was with the motel?"

Alexander had been at the motel with the two decepticons. I stood, "I have to get going somewhere. I'll see you later." Without another word I walked out of the cafeteria.

"How was school?" Mom asked when I stepped through the door.

"Like going to China." I threw down my backpack. "Do I have to go? I can always go online."

Mom shook her head. "You need something that's…a little normal."

"Normal?" The cup next to her lifted as if I could prove my point with this simple action. "Does this look normal?" The cup fell and water spilled into the carpet. Mom sighed. "I'm not normal! Anyone who comes into contact with the autobots are not normal. I can't go back there…"

Mom pulled me to sit on the couch with her and stroked my hair to soothe me. "I was able to do it. I had my normal life and so can you. It just means…distancing yourself from them."

That wasn't something I was too willing to do. I sighed. "But I like Bee…"

"Then, you'll have to do your best."

Do your best. I wanted to laugh at her sometimes. Tonight was Monday night which means she made me step on a scale to weigh me so she would know if I'm eating. Today I weighed 100 pounds.

"Two more pounds than you were last week! You have fifteen more to go!" She said happily.

When she was satisfied I hid myself in my room. My laptop stayed closed on my desk but it opened as soon as I walked in without even having to touch it. This new, shall we say, power of mine.

I looked up several things about telekanisis. It's supposed to be the realm of science fiction, the most popular belief being that humans needed to open their minds far wider in order to access a whole new realm of power. Other theories only led me to Scientology websites. Others claimed that it was learned. Some people even said that maybe we've always been able to do this. Either way, I have no idea how Quint was able to pull it off. Government scientists couldn't figure out how Quint pulled it off. A doctor wouldn't believe me. At one point a priest wanted to preform exorcisms.

On forums people threw out random and not-so-serious remarks that only made me angry. I shut the laptop and sighed heavily.

Tomorrow would be another day, another horrifyingly normal day.


	18. Quintus Prime

_"This was never supposed to be… They were never supposed to have done this to humans or to anybody else." The black world around me started to have some light as a nearby star rose in the east to reveal that metallic world I had dreamed about so long ago. The only citizen of that world was slumped in a chair made of metal spikes again. He sat like a king on his throne before giving up to the enemy._

 _He looked more organic than Optimus or Bee did but I knew he would be made of a metal unknown to Earth like the others. I approached his feet. He looked like Quint as well. "It's been a while! I thought you said we would talk soon!" I demanded._

 _He put his hand on the ground and allowed me to climb into his palm so that he could lift me to his eye level. "What is your name, small one?"_

 _"Kathy. What about your name?"_

 _"Quintus Prime," his voice sounded old and sad and wise beyond anything I could comprehend. "Tell me your story, Kathy. I want to hear everything."_

 _As I stared at him I somehow felt at ease. I was so relaxed around him, something told me I could trust him with even my darkest secrets and he would carry them into the grave where no one would find them._

 _Where should I begin, at the beginning with my birth? No, I had a feeling that he wanted to know about my run-in with Quint and the other quintessons. I willingly told him everything but we spoke no more after I finished._

* * *

School was still a foreign country to me. Even as I walked through the gates and my best friend greeted me in the annoying high-pitched voice of hers, I still felt like I walked on foreign land and everyone spoke to me in a language I couldn't comprehend.

The dream from the night before replayed over and over in my mind. I never wanted to forget that name or that face or the feeling of peace that had washed over me for the first time since meeting the autobots. Most importantly I never wanted to forget the world that may have been Cybertron, Bee's home.

"Well, did you?" She elbowed me.

I realized I hadn't been listening since she greeted me. "Did I murder someone? No not yet, but that kid Jamie or whatever his name is-the one in 3rd period-might be my first victim if he doesn't stop the cat calling."

Lisa laughed. "That is so not what I said. You are avoiding the question again. Did you hear about what's going on in that third world country somewhere near Africa? That silly war is over."

I stopped walking with her. "Silly? There's nothing silly about war, Lisa! People die from it or worse."

Lisa's face scrunched indignantly, "Worse than death?"

I could think of a thousand things Quint did in my time in Russia and each replication of the same thing on a differnet human had them begging for him to kill them, which he so mercifully did. I had to shake the memory from my head or risk screaming or crying or both. "That isn't even the point. Tell me, how silly was it when George Washington decided to take on the entire British army?"

She waved away my comment and we continued walking. "That was different."

"No…it really isn't…" I muttered but decided against saying it loud enough for her to hear. The more she spoke about it the angrier I got about how lax she was about the event. We sat in our seats in science and I finally reached my boiling point. It took all my energy to not tell Lisa to shut it but I focused so much on not speaking that the stapler flew at the window from the teacher's desk. I tried to hide my bright red face behind my hands.

"Well that was…weird," the teacher blinked and attempted to investigate.

"Are you okay?" Lisa put a hand on my shoulder that I promptly shook off.

"I'm fine, Lisa." Other students were gathering around the crack in the window, talking at varying volumes about their theories. I overheard everything from ghosts to goblins to maybe somebody was a witch.

"And how do you expect to find that out?" The teacher demanded.

"How else? Weighing them against a duck!"

I nearly laughed at all of them.

The bell rang but that didn't quiet the commotion and it took the teacher several shouts to get everyone's attention. "Alright, let's begin the lesson…" he had a nasaly voice and a nose that looked almost smooshed that the boys in front of me made fun of as quietly as they could when he turned toward the white board. Without turning around he knew exactly who was doing it and called them out by name while writing down something about physics.

I put my head in my hands, already starting to close my eyes. It was too early in the morning and I had once again gotten nearly no sleep the night before.

For months after getting out of the hospital I couldn't sleep. Even now, after doing everything my shrink told me to do and after accepting my new normal I was still haunted by Quint. He wasn't even that scary of a quintesson compared to the ones that almost killed Elsa. Yet every time I thought about Quint I shivered with the horror that he could be back any moment and demand everything. The worst part was my nightmares ended with me following his commands. I did welcome the dream with Quintus Prime. Still, once I woke up I was too afraid to go back to sleep.

There was a loud ringing in the air and then the windows shattered inwards. Everyone screamed in surprise and covered their heads but as soon as the screaming stopped everyone gathered at the windows.

"Everyone get away from the windows!" The teacher vainly commanded as the bravest of us ran to the windows.

There was another loud sound like an explosion, this time in the parking lot. The explosion shook the ground and everyone grabbed something to steady themselves.

"Oh cool, look! It's Bumblebee!" Lisa pointed outside. Bee had been quietly sitting in the parking lot like a normal car until now. Now he pointed his weapon toward the sky. What was up there?

I ran out into the hall. People were beginning to run out of their classrooms with teachers and security chasing them and yelling to get back inside. I shouldered the door open and sprinted to the parking lot.

The grey clouds danced around a metallic looking ship that looked too much like the quintesson ships we destroyed. I stopped by Bee's foot. I thought we destroyed them all!

"How the hell are they back?" Bee yelled.

Something like gunfire shot at us from the ship. Bee didn't hesitate to pick me up and turn away from the gunfire, consequently getting hit but whatever metal these bullets were made of didn't pierce through Bee like I'd expected. "We have to go up there," I yelled at him.

"We? No, no, no, you, missy, are staying down here."

I huffed. "No, I'm coming with you! I can be more help than a hassal."

Bee sighed. I knew he knew that I would only stay in the parking lot, putting myself in more danger than necessary. "Stay close then, kid."


End file.
